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| Phoenix Friendship Gardens |
Okinawan
kobudo is thought of as the
‘ancient, or old, martial way of Okinawa’.
Kobudo evolved from
kobujutsu, a
koryu (old system) that refers to ancient fighting methods of the Okinawan
penchin and Japanese
samurai. Many people better know these as
martial arts weapons.
Kobujutsu implies fighting techniques without esoteric value, whereas
kobudo has esoteric
philosophy.
'Kobu' translates as old and
'jutsu' refers to the techniques or schools of Okinawa
pechin class that were equivalent to Japanese
samurai. This is unlike
kobudo which implies there is philosophical and redeeming values by adding the suffix
‘do’. A word that is periodically used in place of
kobujutsu is
bukijutsu:
'buki' meaning weapon. Thus
bukido would imply some kind of esoteric influence. That esoteric value would manifest itself in
kata.
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| Rei (bowing) is a very important part of martial arts education. |
Most non-Asians ignore the semantics between
kobudo and
kobujutsu and use these words and thoughts interchangeable as do many
martial artists in Arizona. But it is important to understand there is a difference. Both may use the same techniques, but it is in how they use those techniques that makes a difference.
Kobudo uses techniques in
kata and emphasizes philosophy and self-improvement of the person and spirit. Each time we practice
kobudo kata at the
Arizona School of Traditional Karate in Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Arizona, there is a subtle reminder of the way or path we are seeking or the person we would like to become. We bow (
rei) at the beginning of
karate and kobudo kata and we bow at the end of
kata just as we do at the beginning and ending of our
martial arts classes. This emphasizes respect for one another and provides an unspoken contract that we will humble ourselves to learn from our
Sensei (martial arts teacher). The more you train in
traditional karate & kobudo, bowing stimulates your subconscious telling you to respect, act with good manners, be non-violent, set goals to be a better person, etc, simply because you learn to affiliate these positive thoughts and philosophy with bowing in
martial arts.
As
budoka (
practitioners of the martial way) we must always be aware that the opposite can happen. If you were to train in a
dojo (
martial arts school) that emphasized negative thoughts, these would sooner or later manifest themselves as negative affirmations in your subconscious. Even though it was just a movie and fictional, this is what we saw in the first
Karate Kid movie. Every time
martial artists from the
Cobra-Kai dojo trained in
sport martial arts, they were reminded by their
Sensei to win at any cost and “show no mercy”; whereas,
Mr. Miyagi taught
Daniel-san to associate
karate kata and training with positive affirmations.
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Gichin Funakoshi pencil sketch by Soke
Hausel (copyright) |
I’ve trained in
karate schools that were similar to Cobra-Kai where students were encouraged to fight on the streets to practice martial arts. In
Seiyo Kai, this type of activity would get you expelled from our association and will lead you down a path that ultimately could end up in your incarceration. This is the one quality anyone should investigate in any
dojo prior to training – find out about the philosophy of the
dojo and
Sensei. This was why Gichin Funakoshi and other Okinawan
karate masters of the 20th century so strongly objected to the Japanese turning
karate into sport: it provided a strong negative overtone by focusing on winning and attacking, rather than its real purpose – to make us better people. But the old ancient fighting systems (
bujutsu) had a different concept behind them, they were designed for one thing, and one thing only: to defeat your enemy on a battlefield – no philosophy required. Ancient
bujutsu taught practitioners to attack and kill with little regard to human life. But with evolution of
bujutsu to
budo, things changed dramatically.
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Master Cho, copyright pencil sketch
by Soke Hausel |
Today,
traditional martial arts in the world and in Arizona are a discipline with esoteric benefits for the mind and spirit and physical benefits for the body. It doesn’t take a genius to see some influence of
Buddhism and
Shinto in martial arts, but even so, martial arts are not a religion, and the influence is philosophical. For example, we do not have to practice
martial arts to go to heaven nor we do not have to practice
martial arts to be a good person. It’s just a tool to help us become more confident and better members of society. It teaches us valuable lessons in building affirmations (or goal setting). By following a
martial arts path, one can improve no matter what their beliefs or practices.
Martial arts should complement one’s religion, unless that religion is based on evil.
There is another important characteristic of
budo that people miss.
Budo requires a lifetime commitment. No matter how long you train, there is always more to learn in
martial arts. If you earn a black belt, it means nothing if you do not continue to practice. It would be like earning a college degree in engineering and then going to work as a shoe salesman. You may have an engineering degree, but you would really be a shoe salesman rather than an engineer.
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| Nunchaku kata training in Mesa |
Kobudo (martial arts weapons) uses agriculture and fishing tools such as: (1)
bo (wooden staff), (2)
sai (trucheon), (3)
tonfa (millstone handles), (4)
nunchaku (rice flail), (5)
kama (sickle), (6)
tekko (knuckle dusters), (7)
tinbe-rochin (turtle shell shield & spear), (8)
surujin (chain), (9)
eku or
sunakakebo (oar), (10)
tanbo (short staff), (11)
kuwa (farmers hoe), (12)
nunti (staff with attached sai), (13)
sansetkun (3-sectional staff), (14)
kobutan or
yawara (stick), (15)
manrikigusari (weighted chain), (16)
hari (fish hook), (17)
chizikunbo (fish net handles), (18)
gifa (hairpin), (19)
ra-ke or
kue (rake), (20)
utsubo or
kudamonbo (threshing flail), (21)
shaku kama (pole with attached kama), (22)
hanbo (half bo), (23)
tanto (knife) (24)
nireki, (25)
surichin (rope with rocks) (26)
tetsubo or
kanabo and other tools.
Unlike karate -
kobudo was family oriented and developed different
kata and techniques derived from various families and/or geographic locations on Okinawa with little interaction from outsiders; whereas
karate was developed geographically within three different Okinawa villages –
Shuri,
Naha and
Tomarei. This resulted
karate kata affiliated with distinct villages or styles, while
kobudo kata either bared the name of a person who developed the
kata or the name of the village where it was created. For example,
Sakagawa no kun translates as ‘Sakagawa’s bo form’ in probable reference to
Tode Sakagawa, one of the early members in the
Shorin-Ryu Karate lineage as well as the lineage of
Seiyo No Shorin-Ryu Karate Renmei practiced at the
Arizona School of Traditional Karate in Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler.
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Kate Lehman (2nd dan) trains with nunchaku
at the University of Wyoming. After
graduating from UW, Kate moved to Alaska. |
One of the
kobudo tools or
martial arts weapons that remain a mystery is the
nunchuku (also spelled
nanchaku and
nunchaku) and
known to many Westerners as nunchuks or numchuks. Its place of origin and how it was developed is a matter of controversy. Did it originate in China (or some other southeast Asian country) and was later introduced to Okinawa: or was it weapon indigenous to Okinawa?
Actually there are several possibilities that include: (1) Chinese weapon, (2) threshing flail, (3) cart rail, and (4) horse bridle.
Even the word
nunchuku is subject to controversy. The word may be from China, it may have been from the Japanese pronunciation of a two sectional staff, or it may have been derived from the word used for horse bit or bridle. By combining two Japanese words:
nun meaning
‘twin’ and
shaku the approximate
‘length of bamboo between two nodes’ (about one foot in length), one ends up with the word
nunshaku that is very similar to
nunchuku. The word for Okinawan horse bit or bridle is
nunchiyaku, also similar to
nunchuku. The
parts of a nunchaku consist essentially of two short staffs attached by horse hair.
Many suggest a possible origin for
nunchuku was modification of a farmer’s
threshing tool. The
threshing flail consisted of a long stick attached to a smaller stick by horse hair.
Threshing tools were once common agricultural tools in farming communities around the world including Okinawa where it was used to separate grain from husks, or rice from stems. A threshing tool once used in Quebec had a handle 5 feet in length with the striking stick about 3 feet in length. Although there are only extremely rare references to use of a threshing flail as a
kobudo weapon, it is not hard to imagine farmers, who used this tool 10 to 12 hours a day during harvest, becoming very affective in using it as a weapon without any modification.
A flail could not have been used as
nunchuku without modification. Imagine the difficulty swinging a flail around like you would a
nunchuku. Thus, if the flail was the origin of
nunchuku, it would have to have been modified by cutting one or both sticks to make them equal length.
One variation of
nunchuku is a three-sectional tool known as a
sansetsukon (or
sanchuk). The
sanchuk was likely a Chinese weapon introduced to Okinawa. By breaking a link of a
sanchuk, either on purpose or by accident, one has a
nunchuku. There is a tool used on Okinawa that looks like a
sanchuk, it is essentially a cart rail. This was a removable rail which prevented large stacks of cane from slipping off of a flat-bed hand cart.
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Renshi Todd Stoneking (6th dan) from Utah trains with
Shihan Kevin Vance (5th dan) from Cheyenne, Wyoming |
Another possibility for the origin of this weapon is the Okinawan horse bit or bridle (
nunchiyaku). The Okinawan horse bridle has similarities to
nunchuku, not only in name, but also in shape. Although the handles are curved rather than straight, in time, such a weapon could have been modified to straight sticks.
A
nunchiyaku, or Okinawan horse bridle, consisted to two curved sticks attached by horse hair and placed around the horse’s neck.
Another interesting feature of
nunchaku is that this
martial arts weapon has no
traditional kata like many of the
traditional kobudo kata. The
bo has more than a dozen
traditional kata named after the authors or geographical locations. Many of these are practiced at the
Arizona School of Traditional Karate in Mesa and also by members of
Seiyo Kai International. It is considered by others that this was due to the lack of popularity of
nunchaku in Asian histor
y and it was seldom used in
self-defense.
Even so, the
nunchuku is a good weapon if used properly. Most techniques are designed similar to
karate blocks and strikes with few release strikes; however most
nunchaku kata have many release strikes which can be dangerous to the user because of rebound. Another problem with
nunchuku is distance. A
samurai sword (
katana), halberd (
naginata) or spear (
yari) easily out-reaches the
nunchaku. On the other hand, a
martial artist who was skilled in
nunchaku had the edge on multiple unarmed opponents or against an opponent armed with a knife (
tanto). At the
Arizona School of Traditional Karate in Mesa, students learn to use nunchaku in self-defense against armed opponents with knives and guns and unarmed opponents. Our
Seiyo Kai International students also learn to use
nunchaku against the classical
samurai weapons.
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Heather From of Colorado trains with Charles Jean of
Chandler in nunchakujutsu at the Arizona School of
Traditional Karate. |
Train at the Arizona School of Traditional Karate in our Adult Classes. For one low price (no up-front fees, no contracts, just pay each month) and attend all of our classes.
Just show up and sign up - wear comfortable clothing, and we will start you that evening learning to protect yourself & family.
