Nunchaku

Different types of nunchaku.

Nunchaku, also called "Shuang Jie Gun" is a weapon made up of two sticks connected by a short chain or rope. The two sections are mostly made out of wood and the middle part that links them is cord or metal chain. It is mostly used in martial arts, and have the ability for both long and short range attacks.

It is a traditional Chinese weapon developed during the Song Dynasty by the Emperor Taizu of Song (赵匡胤).

The term nunchaku "ヌンチャク" comes from the Japanese Ryukyuan languages. The word is derived from the Hokkien dialect "nng-chat-kun", which means two-body-stick. In the early thirteenth century, many Chinese migrated to Okinawa, a Japanese island and brought their martial art culture over. Okinawans that learned this martial art then changed the connecting chain from metal to rope, and called it "Nunchaku".

In more modern times, the nunchaku was popularized by the martial arts icon Bruce Lee. It is later used in Southern Chinese Kung Fu, Karate, Okinawan kobudō martial arts, and Filipino Tabak-Toyok.