I and my Tsako

There is only one reason why I became interested in the tsako, and we can sum it in two words: Bruce Lee. 

He made the weapon look so cool and almost invincible.  Notions that many aspiring practitioners find out are qualities achieved only with mastery.

The tsako, as we know it here in the Philippines, more formally known as nunchaku in Okinawa or Japan or, in English, a two-section cudgel or flail (and informally as nunchucks or chucks), may not originally be Filipino, but we have laid our claim to it; even before Bruce Lee made it popular through the Green Hornet series and, later, in his movies. 

Yes.  We did.  Many do not know it, but the style Bruce Lee used in manipulating the nunchaku in his films was not Chinese, Japanese, or Okinawan, but rather Filipino; from eskrima, although he apparently favored greater reach with a longer chain or rope, whereas the usual tsako chain or cord is only about a hand’s width or two long.

It was Dan Inosanto who introduced the tsako to Bruce Lee and started him out on it.  At first, Lee was said not to have liked it, but after a time he grew accustomed to it.  In the end, it has become identifiable only with him, in that people associate or compare anyone who swings a nunchaku with Bruce Lee, which is sometimes unfair to the practitioner and also to Dan Inosanto.

I have had no formal training with the tsako.  The only teacher I’ve ever had in its use is Bruce Lee.  Or, rather, Bruce Lee as he was captured in film flailing, striking, rolling, and snapping with it.  For this reason, my movements are basically copied from what I’ve seen him do and some other techniques transposed from the stick movements of eskrima.  As is my philosophy in wielding it.

As much as I respect Lee Barden for his incredible mastery of the nunchaku and admire his skills, I cannot reconcile my philosophy with his in using the tsako.  I cannot conceive of using foam or light-weight chucks, even in training, because my orientation with the nunchaku is with it as a weapon and any technique which is inconsistent with its use as such, is not something I can be prevailed upon to learn.  And like Bruce Lee, I also favor the greater reach afforded by a longer chain, although this makes the tsako more difficult to handle than conventional ones.

Although I am able to do some fancy twirls and passes with the tsako, I am not particularly skilled at it and I do not want to practice excessively with such techniques because I believe my mindset must be focused on using it as a weapon.  Of course, it won’t do much against a gun-wielding assailant, as Barden wisely points out, but we must also realize that against the argument of the gun, most martial arts (except perhaps if the martial art you practice includes firearms), traditional or otherwise, become useless, yet many still train in them.

However, if faced by an armed but unskilled opponent, I would prefer that he is armed with a tsako than with a stick, a knife, or a gun.  In the hands of one who is not skilled in its use, the tsako is a dangerous weapon for the wielder, and easily beaten by an eskrimador with a stick.  But in the hands of the skilled, one who knows the weapon’s strengths and failings, the tsako is difficult to beat.

All firearms aside, the tsako is an excellent weapon, if you know how to use it.