A nunchaku, also transliterated as nanchyaku (nunchucks or karate stick in the English language; 雙節棍 in the Chinese language; ヌンチャク in the Japanese language) is a martial arts weapon consisting of two sticks connected at their ends with a short chain or thong.
Also referred to as a rice flail, the nunchaku are often explained as a ancient tool used by farmers for threshing rice. Although it is true that many martial arts weapons were originally designed as farm tools, it is unlikely that the nunchaku were used in their exact form for this purpose. Instead a long pole with a short stick attached by chain was most likely the original form used in farming, and the shorter version developed later and solely used in martial arts.
The length of each pole is traditionally the length from finger-tip to elbow and the length of the chain is the width of a fist.
The nunchaku were made popular mostly due to their use by Bruce Lee in a scene from his film Enter the Dragon.
See also: Okinawa weapon