Kobudô – the Armed Martial Arts from Okinawa

A Manual of the Okinawan Kobudô

The island of Okinawa is not only the birthplace of karatedô but also the home of a unique martial arts system with weapons, the kobudô. Simple agricultural and fishing implements turned into extremely efficient weapons in the hands of the islanders. This was the expression of the spirit of resistance against centuries of suppression by Japanese samurai. In the 19th and 20th centuries the greatest masters of the Okinawan kobudô have codified their until than secret art and developed it to an authentic budô art.

The two volumes are a real manual of the Okinawan kobudô. Volume 1 comprises the basics of this martial art and a great number of techniques for bô and sai. Besides the basic techniques numerous examples for combinations and kumite techniques are given, and representative classical and modern kata are described in a comprehensive and comprehensible manner, with detailed verbal descriptions and many figures.

Hanshi Roland Habersetzer, 9th Dan karatedô, practices kobudô since 1973, the year of his first encounter with grandmaster Matayoshi Shinpô. The basics and techniques presented in these books are based upon the authentic teachings of the masters Matayoshi Shinpô and Inoue Motokatsu.