Nunchaku

[garbutt]

Hi,

Does anyone know of this book,

"Nunchakus in action", by Bruce Lee,

If so, is it any good, as i am wanting to leran the nunchaku but arent sure whats the best book, as i am very interested in Bruce Lee maybe a book by him is a good way to start.

Dave

[Budokan]

Nope, sorry. I'm familiar with the book by Fumio Demura--it's pretty good.

[garbutt]

Yea he supposed to be a really good waepons expert but i just wondered if the Bruce Book was any good.

Dave

[yenhoi]

I havent heard of that book by bruce Lee.
If you find it, tell me the #, i would like to obtain a copy.
Im not sure it exists tho.

All the books on the nunchaku I have found are pretty poor. Do a web search for nunchaku, look at TKD sites, also the weapon is called "Tabla Tabla" in Kali weapon systems, you can find many videos and books on Kali weapons, including a series (3 videos) by Dan Insonanto - he touches on Tabla Tabla several times in each.

[garbutt]

Hi,

Yea i know what you mean i didnt know one exised either but when i was is this book store this man told me that i should look in a martial arts mag for a mail order company which seel some books or videos cos thats the best way he finds the stuff he wants.
So i got martial arts mag and in it, in this store in kent in england it say Nunchaku in action by bruce lee, also the man mentioned that bruce lee had done one but that it was only a thin one.

Dave

[yenhoi]

Do you have any nunchaku yet?

If not, go buy a pair, foam or stringed wooden (the foam ones hurt less, but still hurt)

Then just start swinging them. You WILL learn. You WILL hurt.

Elbows are the fu(king worst.

[garbutt]

Hi,

Yea i got one about a month ago, a foam one with a attaching string. Yea ive been doing that but some of that more complacted movement i dont know so i cant try and learn them, but i agree just swinging it about is a good starting way to learn.

Dave

[yenhoi]

Fellow chucker eh?

:D

[garbutt]

i certainly am:)

[straight blast]

I need to get hold of a good book or video that teaches Nunchaku. Any suggestions? I don't have access to a trainer right at the moment but I was shown the basics when I did. I'm more interested in the practical applications than the tricky forms and flips often associated with the nunchaku.

Thanks!

[yenhoi]

For practacality check out fiipino systems, they are very similar to the stick and butterfly knives. Filipino systems work for nearly all weapons regardless of what weapon they are actually taught with.

Check into other flexible weapons, 3 section staff, chinese whip, rope, table cloth, etc, etc.

There are a couple threads on the JKD forum and the street fighting forum.

[straight blast]

Thanks Yenhoi. I'll do just that. Anyone else can help me?

[No_Know]

Let experience be your guide. Take a pair of nunchuku. Think of a situation. Be appropriate.--Ernie Moore Jr~

[yenhoi]

no_know is very correct.

learn pain, find knowledge, love nunchaku.

[Kristoffer]

learn pain.. :o

[jun_erh]

the fancy stuff can be fun though and it helps you get more compfortable with the weapon. I only know 3 section staff so can't reallly help w/ nunchuk

[omegapoint]

The nunchaku is an integral implement in Okinawan Kobudo/Kobujutsu (weapons way/art). Find a good book on Okinawan Kobudo or ask a BB Okinawan stylist if he knows and can teach you a nunchaku kata. The Shorin styles specialize in Kobudo as does Okinawan S h i t o Ryu. The Goju styles and Japanese styles (Shotokan, Wado Ryu) do not concentrate on Kobudo as much (or at all).

The true application of 'chux not only includes whipping strikes but also a lot of trapping and grappling bunkai. I doubt that Escrima/Arnis/Kali could teach you the traditional use of an Okinawan implement. They specialize in Filipino weapons (ie: balisong, criss dagger, 1 or 2 sticks, etc.).

If you have soft trees (ex:banana trees) or a heavy bag that can take some abuse, you can practice striking and retrieval, and how to avoid striking yourself on the recoil. Spinning the chux also takes practice, but true nunchaku forms don't overdoe it with the constant spinning.

Remember if you wanna learn real nunchaku forms find a Shorin Ryu BB. Bruce Lee learned from Tadashi Yamas h i t a (it's ridiculous that I have to type his name like this to avoid the asterisks), a Shorin Ryu- Shorinkan weapons expert.

[eulerfan]

Light padded ones for beginners. Any thoughts about this? I'm still new to this so I'm hitting myself a lot. Namely, the tips of my fingers. This serves to make me timid about the swings. The more timid I am about them, the more I hit myself.

So I thought I should get some light, padded ones and get profficient with them before moving on the the heavy, solid ones.

But then I wonder how much good that will do me since the weight difference will be significant. Maybe it will be so different when I move on to the real ones that having practiced with the padded ones will have done me no good.

Thoughts?

[norther practitioner]

Get a 3 section staff instead...
http://store.yahoo.com/martialartsmart/25-33.html
they are much cooler....


you could always weight the chucks yourself too.

[Chang Style Novice]

I've only futzed around with a friends set of nunchaku (not to be confused with the ultimate weapon - numbchuks!) but they were easy enough that I didn't feel any need to work with the padded ones, and went straight to the solid wood dealies.

On the other hand, I've futzed around even less with the foam padded three-section-pole at my school, and I'm D@MN glad it was foam padded and hollow. Man, that was a lot more complicated.

Da Biz is right, though. The three section pole is much more tres b!tchen'. Probably because it's more complicated.

[red5angel]

I learned on non-padded ones when I was in Karate way back when. You just have to go slow at first and get a feel for it. Even when you get good you still whack yourself pretty good sometimes...

[Souljah]

yea im with red on this (what?!?!?did I say that? jks;) :D )

I did/do ot the same way, start on non padded nuchuckus, then it wont be such a pain as you will get used to it and learn faster (the whole pain-->learning thing), thus avoiding hitting yourself.

Well thats just one way, I suppose using padded ones to start with can be beneficial in some ways, but the thing that bothers me is that you wont be ready for the knocks of the normal ones and it definately feels different to me, If I learnt on padded I'd have to then get used to using normal ones, when I couls have gone straight-risking a few bruised elbows and knuckles.....

sorry i'm babbling on

soul

[Shaolin-Do]

Anyone know of any links showing different nunchaku swings?
(not basic boring ass crap, I want to learn some more fancy twirls and sh!t...)
Already have lots of spins... so... I dunno. Just want to learn more.

[norther practitioner]

Is nunchaku part of your guys curriculm? Or is it just something yu do on the side?

[Shaolin-Do]

Weapons in our curriculum-
Bo staff
Nunchaku
Double Nunchaku
Dagger
Double Dagger
Short stick
drunken stick and bowl
Single broadsword
Double Broadsword
Single Tai Chi Sword
Kwandao
Tiger Hook Swords
Sai
9 Section Chain Whip
3 Sectional staff later I believe...

[norther practitioner]

We do staff (short and long)
broadsword
straight sword
fan
spear
tiger hooks...

no soft or flexible weapons :( no one was teaching it at the time my teacher wanted to do them where he wanted to learn them :mad: ....

So, I'm waiting for someone to dig up the link to that nunchaku guy in the red gi... or was it yellow? The real ****y guy....

[Judge Pen]

NP,

Nunchaku spins are part of the curriculum from blue to green sash and then green to 3rd brown sash but there are no forms, per se. My sifu has some single and double nunchuku forms, but they are not required for rank advancement.

[Golden Arms]

Your prayers have been answered:

Click here for technique training with this awesome weapon. (http://www.numchucks.com/)
:D

[norther practitioner]

OK, so I was wrong about the gi... but I don't think I'll ever forget that guys face (or size of head)....

numb chucks.... sounds like slang for cold feet....lol.....

[Oso]

that's it...I'm changing the font on my website...


that guy is really confused...long rope and long stick:rolleyes:

[Chang Style Novice]

thenumchukhobbit is one of my favorite ma websites. Thanks for bringing him back, Golden Arms.

[Becca]

Almost be worth it to see him try wrist rolls this those.:D

[Oso]

one of my points, becca.

I've trained with them from a chinese perspective and a japanese perspective.

If you go to my website there's a pic of me getting the crap wrenched out of me by the japanese style teacher on the photo page.

From him I learned that japanese styles usually had longer sticks and shorter cord/chain

in the chinese method it was shorter sticks and longer chain, but only as long as your palm is wide.

[chen zhen]

What's your website, adress?
:)

[Oso]

www.ashevillemartialarts.com

[Oso]

goto the flash site, the html site is boring

[Becca]

Thazz how I was thought measure a new pair, as well.

Off on a tangent.

Oppinions on chain vs. rope?

I have always used chain, but the last two pair I've baught seem flimsy. My current pair, I've only had for two months and the swivel is already getting loose.:mad:
I have been thinking of getting a pair of roap ones. But I've heard that it can be hard to adjust from one to the other. Has anyone tryed switching? What would you say are the pros and cons?

[Oso]

still on topic I think.

I have a pair of octagonal maple chucks that I bought circa 1985. There used to be a patented chain swivel w/ a proprietary name.
They rock. I just hit them with a little teflon spray every once in a while.

I have not purchased a chain set since then but I can only imagine the decrease in quality.

the string set I had to get for the japanese guy had some cheap nylon that I immediately replaced with some of that kevlar rope you can get from a climbing store. super strong!

If you replicate the factory stringing method it can be difficult to adjust. but, I would still do so because if it is the multiply strung method where there are 2 or 3 courses of the string running through the sticks then it is very strong. I use a fisherman's knot to tie them off as I can usually make the knot small enough to tuck back into the string groove on the stick.

oops, just reread your message and realized you asked about adjusting from one type to the other and not adjusting the strings :eek: oh, well, I'm not erasing all of that beautiful prose.

IMO, it is a very definite switch between the two methods I have learned. But, I think it has to do with the length of the rods and the length of the connecting material and not string vs. chain.

I'm not training w/ the japanese stylist anymore so I lengthened the string on those to match the length of the chain on my old ones and can go back and forth easily.

:)

[Shaolin-Do]

"string vs. chain."
It tends to be a little easier to smoothly swing the string ones than get a good looking fluid swing on chain ones. I have both, But the main thing with chain ones now, Make sure that the brace holding the chain to the bearing is an I brace (looks like it got smashed on both sides, so it wont slip out) If you buy the others with just a little piece of metal holding the chains on, they tend to shoot off. and they fly, really, really straight. Like a dart. So be careful.
:)

[Shaolin-Do]

Oh yeah, my Chain ones are heavy ass redwood, bout 1 1/2 lb apiece, maybe 1 lb, and my nylon rope ones are like about 1/8 lb.
:)

[Becca]

I like Red Oak, myself. I hate to admit I bought the last set only because they have a lovely dragon carving on them. They are very smooth and well ballenced, but the rod is a bit short for my taste. And I only buy the good ones. (thought I did, anyway. :mad: )

My problem is, it isn't the swivel that keeps breaking. I know chain ones are known for that. It is the "I" brace itself.

[Oso]

oak is a bit brittle. maple has a bit more flex but I think is harder to find these days. I havn't shopped for any in a long time.

hmm, let's see...where oh where might I shop for some nunchaku???

;)

[African Tiger]

Gotta tell ya, going into my 20th year since I mastered the weapon, nothing is faster than rope (roap??? :D ). A chain will never flex the way rope does, kids. Chains are for bikers that can't fight!

I guess I have been eduacated by this post. I have always considered the Nunchaku as a Japanese weapon, despite Bruce's exhibition in Enter the Dragon and Game of Death.

Can't say I've actually noticed a difference in wood for the handles, but Octagon is the way to go. So much easier to hang onto!

[Oso]

ok, our benefactors first.

http://store.yahoo.com/martialartsmart/nunchaku.html

this site looks pretty cool if you you are a okinawan stylee.

I always thought the idea of kicking azz with a paddle was cool, especially after I became a raft guide.

http://www.okiadventures.com/

this site is the only one i've seen w/ a repair chain/ball bearing assembly.



lot's out there, all pretty much the same, I found the Speedchuck(tm) which is what mine are. I would only buy a Speedchuck(tm) chain nunchaku. (where's my money?)

Otherwise, I think I would buy the maple one's from the okinawan site.

[Oso]

AT, '20th year' since you mastered them??? you can't be much older than I am.

I agree, the plain octagonal ones are best.

By itself, rope will of course twist better than the chain but in combination with a good bb swivel it doesn't need to. Plus, against a blade, I want the chain.

However, I put a kevlar rope on my roped chucks for better resistance to cutting.

[African Tiger]

34 in August, brother! Yikes...am I really that old??????:confused:

[Oso]

ok, I'll be 36 in Aug. ****, we must be twins.;) Mines the 5th.

ok, so, like, you mastered the chucks when you were 14??

[Becca]

Originally posted by Oso
oak is a bit brittle. maple has a bit more flex but I think is harder to find these days. I havn't shopped for any in a long time.

hmm, let's see...where oh where might I shop for some nunchaku???

;)

That might be my problem. It could be the wood causing the "I" brace to fail.

Any way. I also like octogon over round.

Cound't open the catalog for the Okinawan site.:( I'll check with my favorite store, though.

P.S. Thanx to every one on their insites. I've always bought chain because I thought roap (:p ) was shoddy. Sounds like I've been pretty deluded.

[Oso]

becca, try cutting and pasting or typing it in. It seemed to be a pretty traditional site with good, basic, no-frills weapons.

rope is just fine. goto a climbing store and ask for some 2 or 3 mm kevlar and restring it and you will have a hot set of chucks!!! :)

[Becca]

Nope. Problem is with my computer not wanting to open the attachment that contains the order info. I think I can order them threw my local MS supply store, though. And I've got some 2 mm Kevlar. (Like to climb):) I'm really looking forward to this; chuks are one of my favorite weapons. You just can't beat them for practicality, beuty, and nothing impresses reletives and friends like smashing an apple still on the tree with "Nose Buster.":D I am realy looking forward to the day Sifu discides to let me learn three section staff.

[Black Jack]

It is also a weapon found in some filipino island systems. Used in Amante Marinas Sr.'s Pananandata style it is called tabak toyok.

[IronFist]

What do you think of this guy's form?

Vid (http://www.danwade.com/MPG/Sockchucks.mpg)

[rubthebuddha]

*wires $5,000 to chicago so water dragon and crippy will throw ironfist off a building*

[Shaolinlueb]

my coworkers think im gay now from watching that.............................................. ........:(

[Kymus]

I'd like to see a `chuk match between him and the sun dragon dude. :D :D

[norther practitioner]

:o

That wasn't even funny.

[James O]

Hi guys

Does anyone have a good link to a site that explains / shows how to make nunchaku?

[yenhoi]

They are easy to make.

I have never found any 'good' nunchaku sites.

:eek:

[David Jamieson]

simple rope style:
http://www.geocities.com/bubbaroces/howtomake.html

hot glue, chain and swivel style:
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Nunchaku

[Oso]

i made my very first set of chucks back about 1982

they came in very handy for killing the copperhead that bit me in April of 1983.

i don't know what became of them, they were in the backpack with the dead snake when I was admitted to Duke. Perhaps some rival ninja masquerading as a doctor stole them to discover the secrets of killin' snakes...

[GeneChing]

This would make a great villain weapon in some direct-to-dvd film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slKaHHz_3CA

Get your nunchuks (http://www.martialartsmart.com/weapons-nunchakus.html) here (no knife nunchuks tho) :cool:

[Oso]

he so serious

[Oso]

i made my very first set of chucks back about 1982

they came in very handy for killing the copperhead that bit me in April of 1983.

i don't know what became of them, they were in the backpack with the dead snake when I was admitted to Duke. Perhaps some rival ninja masquerading as a doctor stole them to discover the secrets of killin' snakes...

raoflmao

true story

[GeneChing]

https://fsmedia.imgix.net/1a/f0/d6/b8/4db9/4b2c/8e2d/0d1eae349c88.gif?rect=0%2C51%2C480%2C160&auto=format%2Ccompress&w=480&gifq=35
The Economic Reason We Should Be Worried About Nunchuck Robots (https://www.inverse.com/article/36421-nunchuck-robots-automation-and-the-american-worker)
Dexterous robots signal another change in automation.
By Alasdair Wilkins on September 20, 2017

Growing up in Beijing, roboticist Cong Wang had one skill he just couldn’t master: soccer. His high school’s soccer coach had played the sport professionally, yet he struggled to teach Wang how to kick the ball between the posts or even just to stop the ball with his chest.

“When he was explaining things they were so simple, but when I tried them it was out of my capability, no matter how smart I am,” Wang tells Inverse. “Whatever he taught me, I wouldn’t be able to do it. Because we were physically different. The tricks he was talking about were just beyond my mechanical capabilities.”

It’s the same basic problem Wang now tries to solve while working in his robotics lab at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Instead of designing robots that are built to do one task perfectly, he and his fellow researchers want to do to a robot what his soccer coach eventually did for him: teach an entirely new skill to something that wasn’t specifically made to perform it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzXL-KM2UqU

While robots that can master the martial art of nunchaku as proficiently as, say, a talented toddler, might just seem like a mere novelty or set-up to a joke, there’s a lot of real-world application to this technological development, especially when it comes to making manufacturing more efficient.

For instance, robots that can learn to swivel their arms could open up a new frontier for robotics. Even though dismal forecasts about automation keep coming — in spite the rare bit of good news — developments like the one by Wang and his team signal another step toward more dexterous robots that could take on jobs performed by humans today.

And as his team describes in a pre-print paper available on arXiv, they decided to teach a robotic hand how to flip nunchucks. Wang and his students learned this relatively basic karate technique, then they used motion-reading sensors to demonstrate all the necessary moves to the robot, so that it could figure out how to replicate it.

For those unfamiliar with the finer points of martial arts, nunchuck-flipping isn’t something you need to be a karate master to perform.

“It’s not that challenging,” Wong says. “But it did take me two months myself to learn it.”

The robot didn’t need quite as much time, he admits.

“Oh, they’re fast — in hours, they’ll be fine,” he says. “It’s a machine, and they practice hard.”

While this particular feat might seem a mere novelty — there’s only so much demand for nunchuck-flipping robots, at least for the time being — Wong sees the robot’s ability to learn and handle such unprecedentedly complex tasks means this opens up the final frontier of automation.

https://fsmedia.imgix.net/7c/fd/4c/d2/083d/478f/8f62/587de76e2b6c/industrial-robots-in-germany.jpeg?auto=format%2Ccompress&w=700
Industrial robots in Germany.

He points out that the construction of car bodies has been fully robotized since the 1970s, but even today the final interior assembly needs to be done by humans.

“The tasks require a lot of hand manipulation, a lot of fine motor skills, and a lot of handling of composite objects that are partly soft and partly rigid,” he says, all of which are tasks robots like this are now able to handle. “So our vision is with our technology in the future, those tasks can also be robotized.”

It’s not that robots couldn’t already do a task like flip nunchucks. As Wong notes, there are already robots that play table tennis, pitch tents, throw darts, run alongside humans, and so on.

“But the problem is a lot of those works are very case-specific,” he says. “It takes a whole team of researchers years of engineering just to do that particular application. So what we’re thinking is we can transfer human skills on this level to robots.”

https://fsmedia.imgix.net/29/0d/7a/44/8467/4150/9309/f54898e88092/a-task-simple-enough-for-a-human-but-not-to-robots-until-now.jpeg?auto=format%2Ccompress&w=700
A task simple enough for a human, but not to robots... until now.

Let’s say you wanted to automate apple picking. It’s a task that might seem relatively straightforward to a human, but Wang says it would take a whole team of Ph.D. researchers to replicate all the precise hand-eye coordination and careful handling of the fruits themselves that go into the task.

“However, if we can figure out how to teach a robot how to do this level of skills intuitively, just like teaching another human being, it just takes another apple picker to teach the robot,” he says.

What all that means for the future of human labor remains to be seen — this is the kind of innovation that makes the calls of tech entrepreneurs for a universal basic income seem that much more urgent. But for now, Wang’s robot remains in the lab, ready to add new tricks to its repertoire.

Photos via Getty Images / Sean Gallup, Getty Images / Matt Cardy, Cong Wang/NJITWritten by Alasdair Wilkins

martial arts robot (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?26024-martial-arts-robot) and numchuks (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?11515-Nunchaku)

[GeneChing]

There's some weird records in the Guinness book...:rolleyes:



Chinese martial art master sets world record for blowing out candles with nunchaku (http://www.ecns.cn/news/odds/2019-09-11/detail-ifzntuwi2504718.shtml)
02019-09-11 09:38:43 Global Times Editor : Li Yan ECNS

http://image.cns.com.cn/ecns_editor/transform/20190911/JeCM-fzntuzz0706043.jpg
A Chinese martial arts master sets a world record for extinguishing most lit candles in one minute using a two section nunchaku. (Photo/Screenshot from the Beijing News)

A Chinese martial arts master has set a world record by blowing 52 candles with a traditional Chinese weapon within one minute, the Beijing News reported on Tuesday saying the feat has been published in the 2020 edition of the Guinness World Records.

The man furiously swung the weapon known as a nunchaku, hitting only the flames of the candles, putting them out without making contact with the candles themselves, as seen in a video the Beijing News posted on Sina Weibo.

The report also mentioned some other odd records, such as the longest distance an arrow shot using feet has traveled, the person who has most tattoos, and the world's longest handmade egg noodles.

THREADS
Martial Arts World Records and Stunts (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?52601-Martial-Arts-World-Records-and-Stunts)
Nunchaku (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?11515-Nunchaku)

[GeneChing]

I seldom post Kickstarters but these are just so silly...


Plei Design, the Amazing Pocket Size Skill Toy & Chopsticks, Launches Crowdfunding Campaign on Kickstarter (https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/plei-design-the-amazing-pocket-size-skill-toy--chopsticks-launches-crowdfunding-campaign-on-kickstarter-301280292.html)
Save the trees, perfect your nunchaku trick skills and eat your sushi! All with the cool, transforming pocket arsenal that is the ChopChucks.

NEWS PROVIDED BY PLEI DESIGN
Apr 29, 2021, 09:00 ET


LONDON, April 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Plei Design has just come up with the most fun, a wacky and practical new product for their eighth Kickstarter, ChopChucks | The amazing pocket size skill toy & chopsticks.

How can they combine the world of martial arts training, oriental cuisine, and sleek design?

https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1499698/22dd3be20a7c2ea406491d451d96.jpg?p=publish&w=650
PLEI DESIGN
This is why the team invented the ChopChucks, short for Chop Chucks, a pair of chopsticks made from high-quality materials that are also transformers. What do they transform into? A martial arts training tool, enabling you in Belgeri bead, pen, or Bali Song techniques, before using them to murder your dinner…elegantly. These techniques can be used to perform all sorts of nunchaku tricks. But you don't want to carry actual nunchakus with you in public for fear of arrest or looking like a geek.

And you can use your ChopChucks to battle safely. When you use them to compete in a game of "Chop Chucks" with a friend to see who can stack some tiny plastic bricks fastest. It's fun, it's a test of skills, and it allows you to beat them without slaying them. You could also use them for training a small rodent-like squirrel as a Ninja and arm it, but that may be irresponsible.

And then they transform once more to hide seamlessly, elegantly in their case. But these eating weapons are genuinely flexible and can easily be adjusted to the correct length for your needs.

While we wouldn't recommend using them as a weapon, ChopChucks are ready to battle for the environment. Traditional chopsticks are disposable and use an indeed monstrous amount of wood, a scarce resource, 3.8 million trees are destroyed every year to create disposable wooden versions! But your ChopChucks can be used again and again, and as you'll be so proud to show them off, you'll never leave them at home. Remember, a sushi Ninja is never unarmed, and his dinner is never uneaten.

Save the environment, perfect your nunchaku trick skills and eat your sushi! All with the cool, transforming pocket arsenal that is the ChopChucks.

The campaign has already surpassed its original funding goals, and there is still time for consumers to be a part of the ChopChucks community at an exclusive discount of up to 57% off the retail price.

Visit ChopChucks on Kickstarter to learn more about it, the amazing pocket size skill toy & chopsticks.

To find out more, please send emails to pldesign2018@hotmail.com

Related Images
chopchucks-on-kickstarter.jpg
ChopChucks on Kickstarter

[GeneChing]

Liverpool's 'nunchaku king' winning titles on global stage (https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpools-nunchaku-king-winning-titles-25521507)
Melvin Lyons is the first winner of the World Nunchaku Championship

ByPatrick Graham Liverpool 8 Community Reporter
10:44, 16 NOV 2022 UPDATED10:45, 16 NOV 2022

MEET MELVIN LYONS: THE FIRST WORLD NUNCHAKU CHAMPION
A Liverpool man is the first ever winner of a world martial arts title.

Bruce Lee brought world fame to martial arts and popularised the art of using nunchaku (two wooden fighting sticks joined by a chain or rope) in the film Fist of Fury and then later Enter the Dragon.

Liverpool's Melvin Lyons, of Freestyle Kickboxing multiple champion Alfie Lewis's Mushin Kai school, became the first Nunchaku Combat World Champion. He won the over 18s and the Veterans categories in Sunderland in October.

He also holds the National, European and Regional champion titles as part of his impressive array of wins. Melvin is undefeated in competition since February 2021.

Melvin told the ECHO: "I took up using Nunchaku around eight years ago after years of martial arts training. It seemed a logical next step for me to learn how to use a weapon, so I chose Nunchaku as it’s a weapon from a humble background.

"(It is) A weapon of the people which is only effective if you know how to use it. For example a bladed weapon is dangerous in most people’s hands, but nunchaku is, mostly, only dangerous in trained hands.

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Melvin Lyons first holder of the World Nunchaku Combat Championship (Image: Patrick Graham/Liverpool ECHO)

"I have been learning various martial arts all of my life. But I picked up kickboxing in 2010. In 2015 I joined Alfie Lewis Mushin Kai in Wavertree. My current grade is a First Dan, that’s a Black belt”.

He added: “My dojo (a term which loosely translates to place of learning) is full of amazing fighters who have won multiple world titles. Being trained and pushed as part of a collective effort is how it works here.

"I’m privileged to be part of Mushin Kai and to be taught by Sensei Alfie Lewis and Sensei Lee Kwende. While I’m extremely proud of my achievements I am fully aware that they are a footnote in the history of this great club”.

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Melvin's World and European Championship medals (Image: Patrick Graham/Liverpool ECHO)
Melvin's nunchaku trainer, Lee Kwende, who has almost 50 years experience using them said: "His achievements at the championships are phenomenal. The people he thought were of high quality, he just blew them all away. In nunchaku, he is the king.”

Lee took him through three phases as part of his training. First; learning basic strikes, moving on to pads and then finally, combat training.

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World Nunchaku Champion Melvin Lyons (centre) with trainer, Lee Kwende (left) and training partner Carlton Abbey (Image: Patrick Graham/Liverpool ECHO)
Carlton Abbey said: "As his training partner I started at the beginning with Melvin. Seeing how he’s progressed to a level now, he is one of the best in the world.

"Anyone who takes his title is well deserved. He is right up there with it".

For information about learning freestyle kickboxing, nunchaku, staff and more, visit: Alfie_Lewis_mushin*_kai on Instagram or Mushin Kai Martial arts and Fitness on Facebook.
If I was Melvin, I would totally put 'Liverpool's 'nunchaku king'' on my biz card.