The term kobudo (Japanese, as are all terms that follow unless indicated) translates as “old martial arts.” It is generally used, however, to refer to weapons training. Kobudo may be incorporated into an empty-hand curriculum as supplementary instruction or taught as a separate discipline, without cross-training in empty-hand forms. Okinawan di (hand) uses empty-hand forms that correspond precisely with the weapons forms used in the system. Weapons may be divided into martial and civil combative categories.
Martial and Civil Classes
There are a number of weapons formally taught in Okinawan kobudo. The term includes the military combative disciplines that utilize the oyumi (longbow); koyumi (short bow); ishi-yumi (crossbow); katana (single-edged curved sword: single- or double-handed); ryoba katana (double-edged straight sword); tanto or kogatana (knife or short sword); tamanaji or yamakatana (mountain sword: broad-bladed, single-edged sword); nag-inata (Japanese glaive); bisento (Chinese glaive); and yari or hoko (spear), hinawaju (musket), and kenju (flintlock pistol).
Civil combative weapons include the puku (hunting spear), tuja (fishing trident), tinbe (short spear or machete used with shield), kama (sickle), kusarigama (sickle and chain), Rokushaku kama (kama attached to 180 cm [6 shaku] staff), kuwa (hoe), sai (three-pronged truncheon), manji no sai (sai with swastika-like arrangement of wings), nunti (manji no sai attached to 7 shaku [212 cm] staff), suruchin (in Japanese, manrikki) (weight and chain), gekiguan (weight and chain attached to stick), tekko (knuckle dusters), tecchu (small rod projecting beyond both ends of hand and held on with swivel-type finger ring), bo (in Chinese, kon or kun) (staff, of various lengths), jo (stick), take no bo (bamboo cane), gusan jo (cross-sectioned stick), tanbo (short stick), eku or kai (oar), nunchaku (flail), sanbon nunchaku or sansetsu kun (three-section flail), dajo (rods joined by long length of rope), uchi bo (long-handled flail with rods of unequal length), tonfa (truncheon with handle affixed at right angle to shaft), kasa (umbrella), ogi (fan), kanzashi (hairpin), kiseru (pipe), and various obscure weapons. The five primary weapons used in conjunction with karate are rokushakubo, sai, tonfa, kama, and nunchaku.
Various Forms
Some of the many kata (forms) that are extant on Okinawa include the bo kata Sakugawa no kon (Sakugawa staff, from its creator Sakugawa Toudi) and Matsumura no kon (from its creator Bushi Matsumura [Bushi here means "warrior"]). Sakugawa passed his kobudo to his disciple Ginowan Donchi, who perfected the weapons forms given to him by his master. The essence of his art is contained in the Ginowan no kon. Other staff kata in Okinawan kobudo include the Cho Un no kon, Shirotaru no kon, Yone-gawa no kon, Chinen Shichanaka no kon, Sesoku no kon, Urasoe no kon, Sueyoshi no kon, Sueishi no kon, Arakaki no kon, Toyama no kon, and Chatan Yara no kon. Sai kata include Taira no sai, Tsukenshitahaku no sai, Tawada no sai, Chatan Yara no sai, Hamahiga no sai, and Arakaki no sai, Yaka no sai, Kojo no sai, and Jigen no sai. Tonfa kata include the Hamahiga no tonfa and Chatan Yara no tonfa. Nunchaku is represented by the Taira no nunchaku. Different forms exist in different kobudo lineages. The Matayoshi branch of kobudo, for example, may also include Matayoshi bo, sai, kama, tonfa, and nunchaku kata, as well as kata for sundry other weapons. Taira Shinken mastered a number of weapons and created kata for many of them, including the tekko. An exhaustive listing of the kobudo kata being used in Okinawa would be foolish to attempt and less than useful to produce. Individual artists invariably leave their own distinctive marks on their work. The history of any art is one of dynamic eclecticism and inspired innovation.
Sai versus sword.
Japanese Influence on Okinawan Kobudo
The kumi dances of Okinawa are dances performed by two players who simulate sparring with various weapons. These dances may be of Japanese origin. The Nihon Budo Taikei (Martial History of Japan) notes that Sat-suma farmers and peasants were taught self-defense by the Jigen-ryu headmaster Togo Bizen-no-Kami Shigekata (1602-1659) at the insistence of the Satsuma lord Shimazu Yoshihisa. The transmission of combative techniques was accomplished through the medium of the Jigen-ryu Bo Odori (Staff Dance). This dance included two-man sets that simulated combat for jo and katana, rokushaku bo, and yari, and separate techniques for eku, kama, shakuhachi (flute), and other implements. Although the original kumi dances of Okinawa may be derived from Japanese prototypes, new dances are periodically created and performed by contemporary kobudo practitioners. The distinguishing factor between kumi dances and weapons kata is that kumi dances are performed for entertainment, with little or no emphasis on the combative bunkai (application of techniques) contained in the forms. Movements are judged for aesthetic value, rather than for combat effectiveness.
This is not true of Okinawan di (in Japanese, te). Okinawan di movements resemble the movements of onna odori (ladies’ dances), but the bunkai are transmitted with emphasis on combative applications. Okinawa di is composed of various open-hand forms, including moto-ti (original hand), kihon-ti (basic hand), tori-ti (grappling hand), uragaeshi (reversal), ogami-ti (prayer hand), koneri-ti (twist hand), oshi-ti (push hand), kaeshi-ti (return hand), nuki-ti (draw hand), and nage-ti (throw hand). The pinnacle of di technique and practice is Anjikata no Mai no Ti (Dancing Hand of the Lords). The empty-hand movements exhibit a circularity and flow that correspond to the movements used with di weaponry.
The primary weapons used in Okinawa di are katana, naginata, and yari. These weapons were also the primary martial implements used by Japanese samurai. It is possible that Okinawan di is indirectly derivative of Japanese forms. The Japanese presented the Ming court with katana, nagi-nata, and yari during the fourteenth century. It is possible that the Oki-nawans were influenced by techniques and weapons from China, which were originally based on Japanese patterns.
It is also possible that the Okinawans received civil combative forms from Ryukyuan samurai (in Okinawan, pechin) traveling to Satsuma after subjugation of the Ryukyu kingdom by the Satsuma clan in 1609. This possibility is substantiated by the tradition that Okinawan rokushaku bojutsu (staff technique) was unknown in the Ryukyus until after Sakugawa “Toudi” (in Japanese, Karate) and Koura Tsuken (1776-1882) returned with them after studying in Satsuma. Matsumura Sokon “Bushi” (in Okinawan, Chikudun
Sensei Ty Yocham of the Texas Okinawan Goju Kai Federation sidesteps a downward cut of the sword and delivers a strike with the eku (oar).
Peichin; warrior) studied karate in Okinawa from the Chinese master Iwah and from Sakugawa Toudi. Matsumura later served as a security agent for the Oki-nawan royal house. During this period, he traveled to China and to Satsuma, where he studied the Jigen system and received his menkyo (teaching license) from Ijuin Yashichiro. Matsumura returned to Okinawa, where he combined his knowledge of karate with his knowledge of Ji-gen-ryu to create what would eventually become known as Shuri-di (Shuri Hand). Both Sakugawa and Matsumura transmitted various weapons kata into the Okinawan civil combative disciplines.
Chinese Influence on Okinawan Kobudo
In 1372, the Ming emperor Wu Hong sent an envoy, Zai Yang, to the Oki-nawan kingdom of Chuzan for the purpose of establishing a tributary alliance with Okinawa. The Chuzan king, Satto, was cognizant of the advantages of being allied with the Ming and welcomed the opportunity of increasing trade with China, especially Fujian. In 1393, the Thirty-Six Families (the number thirty-six denotes a large rather than a specific number), a delegation of Chinese envoys, established a mission at Kume village, in the Kume district of Naha. The settlement at Kume was a point of exchange between the Okinawan and Chinese cultures. It was at Kume that weapons training was introduced by the Thirty-Six Families as part of the combative systems that they brought to Okinawa. The Okinawans absorbed the Chinese fighting arts into their own culture.
In the Oshima Hikki (Oshima Writings) it is reported that the Chinese kenpo (fist method) master Kusanku arrived in Okinawa with a group of his students in 1762. Kusanku exerted a considerable influence on the development of civil combative disciplines in the Ryukyus. Kusanku kata is one of the highest forms in Shorin-ryu and Shotokan Karate. Kusanku’s students included Sakugawa Toudi and Yara Chatan, both of whom made significant contributions to the study and practice of empty-hand forms and kobudo.
Ryukyu kobudo was also influenced by Okinawans who traveled abroad, learning weapons techniques and then transmitting them through various forms upon returning to Okinawa. Matayoshi Shinko (1888-1947) studied bo, sai, kama, and eku under Gushikawa no Tigwa in Chatan, Okinawa. He also trained in tonfa and nunchaku under Moshigiwa Ire. Matayoshi then spent a total of thirteen years traveling throughout China. He researched several weapons disciplines in his travels, including ba-jutsu (mounted archery technique), nagenawa-jutsu (lariat technique), and shuriken (throwing spikes) techniques, which he learned from a gang of Manchurian bandits. Matayoshi acquired a knowledge of nunti, tinbei, and suruchin in Shanghai, as well as learning herbal medicine and a Shaolin Crane Style of boxing known as Kingai-noon (pinyin baihequan). In 1934, Matayoshi studied another Shaolin-based style in Fuzhou.
Matayoshi disseminated his knowledge of kobudo throughout Okinawa and Japan. He demonstrated kobudo in Tokyo in 1915, performing with the karate master Funakoshi Gichin. This was the first performance of Ryukyuan kobudo on the Japanese mainland. Matayoshi also performed for the crown prince Hirohito at Shuri Castle in 1921. Shinko’s son Shinpo continued the Matayoshi tradition of kobudo until his death in 1997.
Okinawan Kobudo
Taira Shinken (1897-1970) began his study of combative forms in 1922 when he met Funakoshi Gichin in Japan. Taira trained with Funakoshi until 1929, when he expanded his studies to include Ryukyu kobudo under Yabiku Moden (1882-1945), the leading authority on Okinawan weaponry in Japan.
Taira opened his first dojo in Ikaho, Gunma Prefecture, in 1932, and was awarded Yabiku’s personal shihan menkyo (Instructor’s Certification) in 1933. In 1934, Taira began studying with Mabuni Kenwa, the founder of Shito-ryu karate and a respected kobudo practitioner. Returning to Okinawa in 1940, Taira continued to research and teach kobudo. He established the Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinko Kai in 1955 for the purpose of consolidating, preserving, and disseminating Ryukyuan kobudo.
The movement was supported in both Okinawa and Japan by many respected karate and kobudo masters, including (in Japan) Mabuni Kenei (son of Mabuni Kenwa, Seito Shito-ryu), Sakagami Ryusho (Itosu-ha), Kuniba Shiyogo (Motobu-ha), Hatashi Teruo (Hayashi-ha), and Kunishi Yasuhiro (Shindo Jinen-ryu). Supporters in Okinawa included Chibana Choshin (Shorin-ryu), Higa Yochoku (Shorin-ryu), Shimabukuro Eizo (Shobayashi-ryu), Nakazato Suguro (Kobayashi-ryu), Nagamine Shoshin (Matsubayashi-ryu), Soken Hohan (Matsumura Seito Shorin-ryu), Nakamura Shigeru (Shorin-ryu), Miyahira Katsuya (Naha Shorin-ryu), Shimabukuro Tatsuo (Isshin-ryu), Higa Seiko (Goju-ryu), Yagi Meitoku (Goju-ryu), Miyazato Ei-ichi (Goju-ryu), Toguchi Seikichi (Goju-ryu), Fukuchi Seiko (Goju-ryu), Chinen Masame (Yamane-ryu), Uechi Kanei (Uechi-ryu), and Kinjo Hiroshi (Shuri-di).
Taira amassed a considerable knowledge of Ryukyuan forms, as well as creating several of his own kata. Taira created the Kungo no kun (Kungo staff) kata, two nunchaku kata, a sansetsukun (three-sectioned staff) kata, the Maezato no tekko (“Maezato knuckle duster”) kata based on empty-hand forms he learned from Funakoshi, and the Jigen no manjisai (sai with wings shaped like a swastika) kata. Perhaps Taira’s greatest achievement, apart from the preservation of a unique part of Okinawa’s cultural heritage, was his creation of a standardized kobudo curriculum and pedagogy. Taira’s senior disciple, Akamine Eisuke, assumed the leadership of the Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinko Kai after his teacher’s death.
The practice of Okinawan kobudo gained considerable attention and international prestige under the influence of Matayoshi Shinko and Taira Shinken. Largely due to their efforts of preservation and popularization, the once obscure weapon arts of Okinawa’s civil combative traditions have been firmly established as a living Ryukyuan cultural legacy.
