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Kobudo
weapons were mentioned for the first time in the year 1243 in an soldier's
military report. During the Japanese occupation, the inhabitants of the Ryu
islands had to pay high taxes and were not allowed to wear conventional
weapons.This was the beginning of Kobujutsu ("old weapon art", precursor of
Kobudo), since objects and tools of everyday's life could not be considered
as weapons and therefore could not be forbidden. In the 19th century when
Japan underwent social upheaval, the martial background of Kobudo slowly
became forgotten. Jutsu (art) was replaced by Do (way).
It generally
refers to the classical weapon traditions of Okinawan martial arts, most
notably the rokushakubo (six foot staff, known as the "bō"), sai (short
unsharpened dagger), tonfa (handled club), kama (sickle), and nunchaku
(nunchucks), but also the tekko (knuckledusters), tinbe-rochin (shield and
spear), and surujin (weighted chain). Less common Okinawan weapons include
the tambo (short staff) and the eku (boat oar of traditional Okinawan
design).
The kata of
kobudo reached their peak between 1600 and 1800 and although the art went
into decline martial-art traditionalist are credited as being responsible
for keeping the art alive through the 20th century |
