Expert Village....

[W. Rabbit]

Was it based on the concept of trapping staff-type weapons, like those old flail-type things?
Tan Bo or something?

Right. In fact (and I know it's a movie but it's cool anyway) San Te uses the 3 section to trap the wide handles of the Abbot's butterfly knives and fling them away to disarm and win. Seemed like a neat trick at the time.

[W. Rabbit]

You stop them from being effective by limiting their range of motion?

Well following most movie plots, you would fight with them linked for a short time until they break, and then you continue beating the enemy with them separately.

Shaolin was all about Improv!

[Colin]

Well following most movie plots, you would fight with them linked for a short time until they break, and then you continue beating the enemy with them separately.

This, in my experience also, is true. I feel this is appropriate:

[judoka_uk]

The real Shaolin staffs from the Ming period, when they were actually used for fighting against bandits and occasionaly in battle against Wako pirates. Were made of either wood or iron, were 8-9 feet long for wooden staffs and just shy of 8 foot for metal staffs. Wooden staffs weighed 3-4lbs and metal ones 19-21lbs.

They just had simple straight staffs with no connected sections etc...

Source:
Cheng Zongyou's ‘Shaolin gunfa chan zong’ (Exposition of the Original Shaolin Staff Method) published 1610 as quoted in Shahar, M, ‘Ming-Period Evidence of Shaolin Martial Practice’, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 61, (2001), pp. 368-369.

[Colin]

They just had simple straight staffs with no connected sections etc...

Why am I not surprised? :D

[judoka_uk]

It should also be noted that even in the later 16th and early 17th centuries there were many schools claiming to teach Shaolin staff fighting that bore no resemblance to the Shaolin method and lacked any lineage to the monastery. Also that some contemporary staff fighting experts even considered the Shaolin methods to be substandard and went to the Shaolin monastery and on seeing what was being taught stepped in to teach them 'teh real staff fighting'.

[Colin]

Also that some contemporary staff fighting experts even considered the Shaolin methods to be substandard and went to the Shaolin monastery and on seeing what was being taught stepped in to teach them 'teh real staff fighting'.

Ahhh.. so THAT'S what 5th brother was doing up at the temple.

[judoka_uk]

Ahhh.. so THAT'S what 5th brother was doing up at the temple.

Was his name Yu Dayou?

[W. Rabbit]

Ahhh.. so THAT'S what 5th brother was doing up at the temple.

Hahaha the fact that I get this joke makes me weep with joy.

[Colin]

Hahaha the fact that I get this joke makes me weep with joy.

The fact that ANYONE other than Ming Loyalist gets this joke makes me worry that my movie references are not obscure enough :)