Chain weapon

A chain weapon is a weapon made of one or more heavy objects attached to a chain, sometimes with a handle. The flail was one of the more common types of chain weapons associated with medieval Europe, although some flails used hinges instead of chains.

Chain weapons in Japan

There were several chain weapons that were used in feudal Japan; these weapons were allegedly used by the ninja. The shoge was a ring with a sickle-like knife on a chain that could be used to pierce armor, grapple, and to entangle the legs of man and horse. The kusari-gama was a kama on a handled chain. The chigriki was a staff with a weighted chain on the end. The manriki-gusari was a double weighted chain. The nunchaku was a short chain with two short wooden sticks on the ends. The nunchaku is often thought of as a feudal weapon. It was used in those times for farming and not as a weapon until much later.

Gallery

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  Asian chain whip.

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  Japanese sickle weapon with a chain and iron weight attached "kusari gama"

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  Russian flails, 18 cent.

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  Russian flail, 16 cent.

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  Antique Japanese chain weapon "manriki"

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  Japanese tetsu chigiriki, a hollow iron cane that has an iron weight attached to a chain hidden inside.

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  Nunchaku (nunchuck)

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  Meteor hammer.

See also

• Flail (weapon)
• Bolas
• Chain whip
• Manriki (different from a manriki-gusari)
• Meteor hammer
• Slungshot (not the same thing as a slingshot)
• Surujin
• Tabak-Toyok
• Three section staff
• Kusari-fundo
• Rope dart (loosely speaking)
• List of Mêlée weapons (Chain weapons have their own extensive section)