LEARNING TO USE NUNCHUKS

Ouch, momma mia, thud, whomp, eeeek. Some sounds expressed by real people when learning nunchaku - an Okinawa peasant tool converted into a weapon. Yes, in the old days, it was a pain to learn to use nunchaku, that’s because all nunchaku were hand made from hard wood and chains. But nowadays, this is remedied by foam-rubber chuks, paper chuks, etc. 

It wasn’t until about 1969, that I was introduced to kobudo (5 years after I began training in karate). The first Okinawan weapon I was introduced to was nunchaku. Nunchaku at the time was new in the US, but made very popular by Bruce Lee’s movie Enter the Dragon and also introduced by Sensei Yamashita about the same time. The origin of this weapon/tool is controversial, but thought to be indigenous to Okinawa, with possibilities of originating in China. 

At the time I was introduced to Nunchaku I was a student of geology at the University of Utah. Apparently, no one had thought to make nunchaku out of a material that would not bruise those of us who trained with it. In fact, nunchaku was not available on the market in the US as far as I’m aware, so we typically made our own using two pieces of hard wood, added a crown bolt to the end of the sticks, and attached a short chain between the crown bolts.

So bruises were self induced during kobudo training. Swinging a nunchaku around the head, against ones hip, under the arm, between the legs either made one tough, or quit. Me, I continued to train and periodically negative reinforcement from hitting myself in the shin or elbow began to imprint in my mind that if I wanted to survive kobudo, I had to remember not to bring that stick so close to my shin when swinging downward. Self-preservation kicked in and I seldom hit myself again. But learning nunchaku provided some unique sounds in the dojo when various individuals would strike shins, elbows, groins, and even their heads as each appendage provided a different sound and different response from the person learning to use nunchaku. 

Today, nunchaku is a lot easier to learn. Martial arts supply houses sell padded chucks, and one can even make their own chuks using magazines and/or duct tape. And I still teach nunchaku to my students around the world and at my Arizona Hombu Dojo in Mesa, Arizona. The tool is not as popular as it once was, but it is something that I still love to train with in kata and self-defense applications known as bunkai.

Soke Hausel teaching nunchaku clinic at the University of Wyoming

Training in kobudo at the Arizona Hombu Karate Dojo in Mesa, AZ

Soke Hausel demonstrates applications of nunchaku to members of the Utah Shorin-Kai at an outdoor clinic at the East Canyon resort near Park City, Utah.

Okinawa Nunchaku classes in Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa Arizona

The nunchaku is a challenge to learn, but with today's foam chuks, it is easier than in the old days when all we had were
  nunchaku we made ourselves from whatever wood and chain we could find. It resulted in many bruises and in some
practitioners not being able to have children (just kidding). But we mastered the weapon after many bruises. Most people
 today have it easy as they start with foam chuks. The problem with foam chuks is that  they are very cheaply made with a
 breakable plastic cylinder that shatters. Nunchaku was designed as a blocking, striking and grappling weapon that did not
require many release (swinging) strikes. Kata will teach you proper muscle memory, blocks, strikes, etc.

Nunchaku (ヌンチャク,), a traditional karate weapon of kobudo (沖縄古武道), can be found at the Seiyo no Shorin-Ryu Karate Kobudo Kai Hombu in Mesa Arizona. This traditional karate weapon is taught along with the empty hand of karate as has been the case for karate and kobudo for  centuries on Okinawa. Classes in this Okinawa weapon are taught to all of our adult and family students at the border of Chandler with Gilbert & Mesa Arizona on Kobudo nights at our dojo (martial arts school). Children are also introduced to kobudo weapons as they train with their parents.

Members of the Mesa Karate school (dojo - 道場) and learn to use the nunchaku, not like a twirlers baton seen in many schools where a martial artist is more of a danger to oneself than to others, but instead, students at the Arizona Hombu learn to use this classical kobudo tool as it was intended: a weapon of self-defense along with kata and bunkai.

Seiyo No Shorin-Ryu Karate Kobudo Kai members can receive certification in this karate weapon after about a year of  training where they learn kihon (基本) (basic blocks, strikes, stances, chokes), several kata (型) (forms) along with bunkai (分解) (practical applications) and kumite (組手) (sparring). One must also come into the dojo with the proper spirit of learning 'Self-Defense' rather than 'Self-Offense', if they want to learn.

Both men and women learn to use the nunchaku at the Hombu dojo. 

Ben attacks with knife only to have it parried by nunchaku during kobudo class