A kind of melee weapon. Usually made of two pieces of wood, about 1 to 2 inches in diameter and from 6 to 12 inches in length, attached to each other at one end with rope or chain. Derived from a thresher, an agricultural implement. First popularized in the west probably through the depiction of Bruce Lee using a nunchaku in a number of movies.

Nunchaku, other odd weapons, and karate in general were developed due to the central Japanese government's decision to make the ownership of swords illegal for the people who lived on the island of Okinawa.