How long ago was the yo-yo first used as a weapon?
score:10
It's unlikely it ever was.
Practically speaking, anyone who's used a yo-yo knows that if you happen to let it hit the floor, it'll wobble to a stop and then you have to spend 10 minutes rewinding it. Even though experts do tricks, it's still wildly unusable as a weapon when compared with simply extending an arm and whacking someone with a cosh.
The most iconic memory that many of us have of this weapon is in James Bond's Octopussy film, which may lead people to believe that it's a weapon of some heritage:
The yo-yo saw fictional weapon consisting of an axle connected to two razor-sharp disks, and a cable looped around the axle. The weapon is usually dropped from a height, allowing gravity (or the force of a throw and gravity) to spin the yo-yo and unwind the cord. The device then winds itself back to the metal handle in the wielder's hand, via its spin (and the associated rotational energy).
Given the fact that yo-yos work by generating momentum, something heavy enough to make some damage also takes a lot of effort to gather the neccessary momentum.
The film-makers didn't manage to make this contraption actually work (let alone be lethal, except as a falling lump of jaggy metal).
Two practical effects were created for its scenes: one which functioned like a Yo-Yo and a functional, motor-driven buzz-saw blade on the end of a pole-arm
The source for this information is described in a documentary on the film's BluRay disk.
Upvote:4
According to the 9 July 1932 Spectator at page 44:
Poor Yo-Yo. . . . Centuries ago, in the Philippines, you were a deadly weapon, an unseen terror which struck suddenly from above and returned to the hand of the ingenious Filipino who lay stretched out lazily on an overhanging branch.
The 1974 Guinness Book of Records says:
The yo-yo originates from a Filipino jungle fighting weapon recorded in the 16th century weighing 4lb. with a 20 ft 6 m cord.
According to the 1958 José Rizal, Patriot and Martyr:
I had with me a yo-yo, European and Americans were astounded to see me use it as an offensive weapon
And the 1907 Vida y escritos del Dr. José Rizal states (with reference to 1888):
Allí hice conocimientos con mucha gente, y como traía conmigo un yo-yo, los europeos y americanos se quedaban pasmados de ver cómo yo me servía de él como una arma ofensiva.
Filipino Martial Culture (2011) says:
Jones notes that the primitive yo-yo was a stone attached to a vine, whose initial function was most likely hunting. [reference 17] In 1888, Dr. Jose Rizal visited the United States and demonstrated the use of the yo-yo as not only a pacifying toy but a deadly projectile weapon.
More post
- 📝 From 1200 B.C. until 100 A.D. did people in the Middle East sit on mats or mainly on chairs?
- 📝 Which submarine was invented first?
- 📝 By what right/legitimacy did the Republic of Indonesia come to rule the country?
- 📝 What had caused Northumbrian to become similar to Old Danish before the Viking invasions?
- 📝 How easy one could start an artel in USSR after WW2 1945-1956?
- 📝 Are views in Thailand on Axis powers influenced by colonization?
- 📝 What's the etymology of the name of the Schengen village?
- 📝 Have there been other examples of reunification/annexation, such as in the Crimea, that succeeded without using deadly force?
- 📝 Was there Church opposition to heliocentrism in 1600?
- 📝 Does anyone know anything on the history or any other information on this dagger?
- 📝 What was normal attire for Hindu kings in the 15th century?
- 📝 What did the Greeks call their gods while under Roman rule?
- 📝 Are there any old paintings (medieval period onwards) that actually depict the female genitalia rather than just leaving the pubic region empty?
- 📝 Were there any ancient cultures that accepted h*m*sexuality?
- 📝 Did the 1st Marine Division use the M3 carbine on Okinawa?
- 📝 Was Walden Pond ever the primary source for rail transported ice?
- 📝 Confusion re the naming of Roman freedman
- 📝 Who is the first person in the 17th century to describe themselves as a "white" person and who invented the term "white race"?
- 📝 Was the US Army during the WW2 Western Front a motorized army, a mechanized army, or neither?
- 📝 Who sold this book in London in the 1930s?
- 📝 Please post a picture of the mills tonfa were supposedly used to turn
- 📝 Historic leisure activities (especially the elderly)
- 📝 Is the "Katyusha" scene from Deer Hunter historically accurate?
- 📝 What are the largest numerical units that the median-wealthy person in Western civilization was aware of through the centuries?
- 📝 Did the syphilis epidemic start the 16th and 17th century wig craze?
- 📝 Why did the Persian army lose the battle of Marathon?
- 📝 What specific jobs did people have on the Manhattan Project?
- 📝 Did ancient Greeks harden steel weapons?
- 📝 Is there any information on what numbers of American families have what numbers of children, for any time period?
- 📝 What was the official language used across European monarchies in the XII century?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How long ago was the yo-yo first used as a weapon?
- 📝 In the First Barbary War, how long was the USS Philadelphia aground?
- 📝 About how long ago was the most recent day on which a human did not die
- 📝 How can we be sure what the first day of the month was 2000 years ago and how can we determine which years were leap years?
- 📝 How common was smoking in first half of the 20th century?
- 📝 In the first half of 20th century, how was gold inspected for authenticity?
- 📝 When was "diablo" first used to refer to the Devil?
- 📝 How long was a journey "from the Varangians to the Greeks?"
- 📝 When was the testudo / tortoise formation first used by the Romans?
- 📝 When was King John of England given the name 'Dollheart', and who first used it?
- 📝 How long was the Treaty of Versailles intended to be in order?
- 📝 When the term "president" was used the first time?
- 📝 How was the first official geographical border established in Europe?
- 📝 Was the Seven Years’ War the first time dogs were used to carry messages?
- 📝 When was the White Feather first used as a symbol of cowardice?
- 📝 When, and where, was the word 'Anglican' first used in the context of the Protestant Church of England?
- 📝 How was the term "Mandate of Heaven" used during the rise and fall of Chinese dynasties?
- 📝 How long was the overland trip between St. Petersburg and Okhotsk?
- 📝 How long did Jews in hiding take to reveal themselves at the end of WW2? What was their reception?
- 📝 How was the first carpenter's square made?
- 📝 When was the term "Dravida" first used and what is the context with which it was presented?
- 📝 When was the first time that concrete was used in Indian Subcontinent?
- 📝 When was the term for WW2 first used and was it more popular in, say, US before Europe?
- 📝 Was there a melee weapon that was used by many people at the same time?
- 📝 How serious was Fermat's statement about the ancients?
- 📝 How and when was the modern company ownership structure invented?
- 📝 How was the United States able to produce excellent tanks in 1942?
- 📝 Who, if anyone, was the first astronaut to return to earth in a different vessel?
- 📝 How long was a sea journey from England to East Africa 1868-1877?
- 📝 In the Medieval period, how long would an average swordsmith need to forge an average sword?