History

It is a common misconception that the traditional weapon techniques used on Okinawa and the surrounding islands were all developed by farmers and fishermen. While a few weapons started out as agricultural or fishing tools, the origins of most Ryukyu kobudo lie with the pechin, professional warriors who were lower-ranked members of the royal family of the Ryukyu Kingdom. These warriors often served as police, body guards, and other public officials, and it is largely through them that the weapon arts of the Ryukyus were passed down. Nearly all of the early masters of Ryukyu kobudo where members of the royal family. With a steady stipend from the government, and no need to engage in back-breaking labor, they had plenty of time to train in martial arts.

The origins of some of the weapons used in traditional Okinawan martial arts are uncertain. Some of them are versions of Chinese weapons that made their way to the Ryukyus.

During various periods of the ancient Ryukyu Kingdom, weapons were confiscated and/or banned. When king Shō Shin took power of the Ryukyus in 1477, weapons were taken from all aji (local lords) and moved to the capital Shuri for centralized defense of the kingdom. At this same time, the practice of ti (karate) and weapons training were also publicly banned, and were forced to be carried out secretly. (1)

Later, in 1609, the Japanese Satsuma clan invaded the Ryukyu Islands, and were an occupying force for hundreds of years. They forbade warriors from carrying swords, and later, ended the manufacture and import of bladed weapons in the Ryukyus. They turned the Ryukyu Kingdom into a puppet government that had to pay tribute to both Japan and China in order to survive. (2)

These types of government controls and occupation by foreign powers may have restricted the use of bladed weapons like swords and spears, but most likely did not hinder the development of weapons used normally by police or body guards, such as the bo (staff) and sai (iron club). Occasionally, public exhibitions of Okinawan martial arts were held, and the Ryukyus where unmolested by their oppressors for the most part. It was in this environment that warriors like Toudi Sakugawa where allowed to travel to Beijing in the 1700's and bring back the Chinese fighting methods learned there to the Ryukyus. Many of the fighting techniques from China were modified and melded with the indigenous fighting arts of the Ryukyus to form the basis for traditional karate and weapons techniques. It is through Sakugawa and his students that much of our system of Ryukyu kobudo has been passed down.

Everything changed in 1879, when Japan invaded once again, and this time made the Islands a prefecture of Japan. All the warrior classes that had been supported by the royal family were demoted, and lost their salary from the government. Most of them who had been stationed in the Shuri area were scattered back to their ancestral homes, and had to find other means to earn a living. Warriors learned to adapt common tools such as the gardening sickle and the boat oar for use as weapons. This was a natural consequence of losing their wealth and status due to the Japanese removing the old Ryukyu royal family from power. Pechin who once served the kingdom as peacekeepers found themselves doing menial work to earn a living, and thus learned to use the tools at hand as weapons. (3) So while peasants were not technically the originators of Ryukyuan weapon arts, warriors who had become peasants did develop some of the weapons used in Ryukyu kobudo out of necessity.

Some weapons were commonly used by civilians for self defense, or even by violent criminals. These "street weapons" were also preserved and became part of Ryukyu kobudo. Weapons that fall into this category are the suruchin, a rope or chain with weights at the ends, and tekko, a kind of metal knuckles. (4)

It should also be noted that there is no indigenous iron ore in the Ryukyus, and some have theorized that may be the reason that fighting methods using wooden weapons were developed to such a high degree. These are some of the many factors that have been the driving forces that contributed to the development of traditional Ryukyuan weapon arts. (5)

1. Mark Bishop, Zen Kobudo

2. Mark Bishop, Okinawan Weaponry Hidden Methods, Ancient Myths of Kobudo & Te

3. Christopher M. Clarke, Okinawan Kobudo: A History of Weaponry Styles and Masters

4. Mark Bishop, Okinawan Weaponry Hidden Methods, Ancient Myths of Kobudo & Te

5. Charles Harris, Kenpukan website