Editing Nunchaku (section)

== Origins ==
[[File:Hyoshiki 5.jpg|thumb|left|Hyoshiki (wooden clappers)]]
[[File:Khamsone_threshing_rice_(5143590258).jpg|thumb|130px|A [[South-East Asian]] rice threshing tool similar in design to nunchaku.]]
The first written record of nunchaku-like weapon was the Chinese military [[compendium]] of {{Zh|c=武經總要|p=[[Wujing Zongyao]]|labels=no}} compiled during the [[Northern Song dynasty]]'':'' <blockquote>"鐵鏈夾棒，本出西戎，馬上用之，以敵漢之步兵。其狀如農家打麥之枷，以鐵飾之，利於自上擊下，故漢兵善用者巧於戎人。"<ref>{{Cite web |title=武經總要 - 维基文库，自由的图书馆 |url=https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%AD%A6%E7%B6%93%E7%B8%BD%E8%A6%81/%E5%89%8D%E9%9B%86/%E5%8D%B7%E5%8D%81%E4%B8%89 |access-date=2023-08-20 |website=zh.wikisource.org |language=zh}}</ref>

Translation:

"Two sticks connected by metal chain, originated from [[Xirong]], used on horses in combat against Han infantry, shaped similarly to flails used by farmers to thresh wheat, iron-decorated, easy to strike below from above, Han soldiers who were able to master could exercise with excellence against the [[Xirong]]s."</blockquote>One popular belief is that nunchaku in its contemporary form was originally a short South-East Asian [[Flail (weapon)|flail]]. A near variant to the nunchaku called tabak-toyok exists in the northern [[Philippines]],<ref>{{Cite book |author=[[Donn F. Draeger]] & Rober W. Smith |title=Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts |year=1969 |isbn=978-0-87011-436-6}}</ref> which was used to [[Threshing|thresh]] rice or soybeans. Alternative theories are that it was originally developed from an Okinawan horse bit (''muge'') or from a wooden clapper called ''hyoshiki''<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=6Q1jAAAAMAAJ&q=HYOSHIKI+clappers ''Reframing Japanese cinema: authorship, genre, history'', Authors Arthur Nolletti, David Desser, Publisher Indiana University Press, 1992, Original from the University of Michigan, Digitized May 5, 2008] {{ISBN|0-253-34108-6}} {{ISBN|978-0-253-34108-2}}</ref> carried by the village night watch, made of two blocks of wood joined by a cord. The night watch would hit the blocks of wood together to attract people's attention, then warn them about fires and other dangers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oks-online.com/Weapons/nunchaku.htm|title=OKS Nunchaku|website=oks-online.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090406032805/http://www.oks-online.com/Weapons/nunchaku.htm|archive-date=2009-04-06}}</ref>

An oft-repeated claim is that the nunchaku and other [[Okinawan kobudō|Okinawan weapons]] were tools adapted for use as weapons by peasants who were forbidden from possessing conventional weapons, but available academic sources suggest this is likely a romantic exaggeration created by 20th century martial arts schools. Martial arts in [[Okinawa Prefecture|Okinawa]] were practiced exclusively by the aristocracy (''[[kazoku]]'') and "serving nobles" (''[[Pechin#Okinawan Caste System|shizoku]]''), but were prohibited among commoners (''heimin'').<ref name="Levitas">{{Cite web |title=The real history of the nunchaku |author=Alex Levitas |work=nunchaku-do.com |access-date=2021-04-06 |url=http://www.nunchaku-do.com/histor_e.htm |language=en}}</ref>{{Self-published inline|date=September 2023}}