Despite being famous for his use of nunchucks, Bruce Lee once hated them and had no interest in incorporating them into his fighting style. However, the nunchucks are now a key part of his image. In fact, the kung fu star utilized them in four of his five martial arts movies.
Having originated from Okinawan martial arts, the nunchucks have a long and rich history that date back at least 400 years. That being said, they were hardly an iconic weapon in the 1960s and early 1970s. During the early years of the martial arts movie genre, the go-to weapon for kung fu heroes was without question the Chinese sword. Swords were typically seen in the hands of several martial arts stars, including Ti Lung, Jimmy Wang Yu, Cheng Pei-Pei, and more. It wasn’t until Lee burst onto the scene in 1971 that nunchucks began to develop a sizable presence in martial arts films and pop culture in general.
Apparently, Bruce Lee originally hated the kung fu weapon. In the I am Bruce Lee documentary, Dan Inosanto, a prominent martial artist who regularly trained with the actor, explained that Lee thought nunchucks were a “worthless piece of junk”. It would seem that the Jeet Kune Do founder didn’t understand how such a weapon could have any practical use in a real fight. But according to Inosanto, he succeeded in changing Lee’s mind about the nunchucks’ effectiveness in combat. Inosanto helped Lee learn how to use them, and within just three months of training, Lee was “swinging it like he'd been doing it for a lifetime”.
How The Nunchucks Became Bruce Lee's Signature Weapon
Bruce Lee’s first time using the nunchucks on the big screen happened in 1971’s Fist of Fury, his second kung fu movie. In a memorable action sequence, Lee’s character defeated a slew of Japanese fighters with a pair of nunchucks. How well the choreography of this scene worked for the movie led to Lee bringing them back for Way of the Dragon. Plus, Lee filmed scenes of him having a nunchucks fight with Inosanto himself in Game of Death. The film was never completed, but the released footage of Lee using the nunchucks provided him with one of his celebrated moments. They were used once more in Warner Bros’ Enter the Dragon. And with it being Bruce Lee’s most well-known movie, the inclusion of the nunchucks naturally boosted their visibility as a martial arts weapon.
Unsurprisingly, the nunchucks are considered to be extremely difficult to master, which has a lot to do with what makes his handling of them in his films so impressive. The ease in which he wielded them in his fight scenes brought them a massive amount of exposure and resulted in numerous recreations of his nunchucks routine from Game of Death. And like Bruce Lee, countless people around the world have developed a respect for the nunchucks and what they bring to the table as a weapon.