Kobudo...The real story.

Okinawannabe · December 16, 2003

Hey, all.

I have been doing some research about traditional Okinawan Kobudo. Actually, the art itself is fairly well-known, and accessible, but unfortunately, the art has evolved (as they all tend to do) substantially, and has lost some of it's original luster.

I am attempting to collect my finds into a well-organized article, but until that happens, I thought some of you may enjoy a few of the major findings.

As many of you already know the original art of Kobudo was established as a result of Japanese invasion on the island of Okinawa. As traditional weapons were outlawed by the Japanese, make-shift weapons were created and utilized. These weapons were created from tools and implements that could be found in general use.

As Kobudo became an established art, a consistent system of 13 weapons evolved and flourished. This system of 13 weapons was taught in its final form for nearly 40 years. After that time, some of the weapons gradually began to disappear from the curriculum, for a variety of reasons.

First, as Kobudo began to gain a wider appeal, the number of students who had to cram into sometimes very small hombu-dojos, and the ever-younger ages of interested students restricted some of the most lethal of these weapons.

Second, as different students of the original art progressed and became major teachers of the art, their differing personalities began to shape their style, and certain weapons had less appeal to one teacher than to another, and were therefore dropped from one style's curriculum, while being continued in another.

The 13 weapons that were originally included in the art of Kobudo were; rokushaku bo, sai, nunchaku, tsun kuwa, kama, eku, tekko, timbe rochin, nunti, kuwa, ti-naka, suruchin, and sansetsukon.

At another time, I will make individual posts giving the histories and uses of these individual weapons. Until then, I've got to get back to work.

Be looking for the next set of posts.