Restringing Nunchaku

[gar0u]

I'm a brown belt (1st kyu).  My event was "Weapons: Adult Under Black."  Kind of a broad group of people.  That's why I was satisfied with placing 3rd.  There were quite a few people in that event, and I knew the weapon would most likely be disliked. 

[phoenix]

gar0u, what division were you in for weapons?  I didn't see you, probably because I was so busy in my ring.   In black belt weapons there were only the oar, bo and a couple sai kata.

[gar0u]

Thank you.   

I think I did ok, but the entire tournament I was thinking over the points you and Phoenix shared with me, and tried to pay extra attention to my fundamentals while swinging the chucks.

[bogirl]

Congrats!  Winning with nunchaku is particularly difficult, you must have done them very well.

Kama is a wicked weapon, the curved blades not only catch and hook weapons or limbs, they also slash and can disembowel an attacker.

The tricky part then, is not hooking yourself when doing some of the double blocks!   

[gar0u]

Well, I took my sai and nunchuka to the tournament.  I didn't feel confident with Soi, so I broke out the nunchuka for my weapon event.  There were about 20 people in the event, lots of bo, lots of sai, lots of tonfa.  I was the only one with nunchuka.  One other guy was the only one with kama. 

I placed 3rd, so I was very pleased.

I've never seen a kama kata before, and I was very impressed.  I could really visualize the poor attacker, and I think after jo, kama may be my new favorite weapon.  It's beautifully brutal.

[Bluecrab]

Nunchaku can be a very powerful weapon. Lots of leverage in the strikes.

Andy is right, I think. Bruce Lee can probably be credited with starting the craze of flashy nunchaku stuff. Does anybody know where he learned to use them? As far as I know, they only used to exist in Okinawan kobudo.

I like the way they're used in kobudo. Nothing flashy, just very straightforward and very nasty striking. Also can be a very good blocking weapon.

[bogirl]

Yakima is always the 2nd Sat, so March 14th this year.

I WILL be there!

[phoenix]

Dave does 4th place medals, I believe.  Bogirl would have to tell you when Yakima tourney is, but it is usually the first week in March.

[gar0u]

4th place trophies?   

Isn't the Yakima tournament next weekend?  (March 7th)

[phoenix]

Good luck (skill) tomorrow!  I'm not going to be able to make it, we're heading to Seattle instead...

Now what am I going to do with all of those sugarless chocolate turtles?

[bogirl]

Now I'm bummed out.

As much as I wanted to do my double nunchaku kata, sai was my backup.  But now that I think about it, I'm pretty certain I do flip my elbows out when I flip the sai out.

I'll probably take both to the tournament and figure out which one I'll do when I get there.

Bo definitely seems to be the weapon of choice in our style, but I don't want to do something different at the expense of doing something well.

Phoenix, I'll pass along your comments to my wife.  She'll get a kick out of them. 

To flip the sai, your elbows have to move a bit for more power, but it's cleaner-looking if it's mostly wrist action and not exagerated elbow.   My problem with it comes when students carry that elbow flip into empty hand kata.

Good luck (skill) tomorrow!  I'm not going to be able to make it, we're heading to Seattle instead...

[phoenix]

Bo on the other hand, mimics empty hand movements much more, so the basics look more normal

Bogirl is predigest on this matter (go figure, with a name like Bogirl)  The simple fact is that the bo is much easier to handle and will not turn on you as easy as the other weapons.  Try doing a kata with two bos at the same time.   Do your kata that you want to do, maybe you will be in my ring.

[gar0u]

Now I'm bummed out.

As much as I wanted to do my double nunchaku kata, sai was my backup.  But now that I think about it, I'm pretty certain I do flip my elbows out when I flip the sai out.

I'll probably take both to the tournament and figure out which one I'll do when I get there.

Bo definitely seems to be the weapon of choice in our style, but I don't want to do something different at the expense of doing something well.

Phoenix, I'll pass along your comments to my wife.  She'll get a kick out of them. 

[bogirl]

I really don't like nunchaku.  Kids that learn them seem to develop funny basics, hunching their shoulders, overextending their arms, poor stances, etc.  Part of it is probably trying to avoid hitting themselves, but there is still no excuse for poor basics.   Sai also sometimes has it's problems, with the flipping in and out, it gets really easy to start flipping your elbows out.

Bo on the other hand, mimics empty hand movements much more, so the basics look more normal.   Kama is also more Karate-like, with the kama being more of a extension of the hand.

I did beat the bo once in Walla Walla with the kama... 

[phoenix]

Bruce Lee gave the nunchako its start as a street weapon.  He glorified it in his movies and everyone that wanted to become the next Bruce Lee picked up that weapon.  In my opinion it devalued the nunchako as a traditonal Okinawin weapon.  It is identified as a weapon of a street punk.  Your wife is a wise person.