About This Site

kobudo.fi is a research resource documenting the weapon-based martial arts of the Ryukyu Islands — their history, lineages, tools and kata — with an emphasis on verifiable sources and cross-style comparison.

Purpose

The site exists to:

• Provide a structured reference for practitioners and researchers studying Ryukyu kobudo
• Map kata name families across different organizations, showing shared roots and divergent branches
• Present historical context from the Ryukyu Kingdom era through modern transmission
• Catalog Japanese-language primary and secondary sources for further research

Scope

The primary focus is weapons-based Ryukyuan martial arts (古武道 / 古武術) — particularly the Taira Shinken lineage (Ryūkyū Kobujutsu Hozon Shinkōkai), Matayoshi Kobudo, and Yamane-ryū. The site does not attempt to cover empty-hand Okinawan karate except where it directly intersects with weapon transmission.

The site is intentionally extensible: each section is designed as a starting point with room for sub-sections, detailed kata analyses, teacher biographies and source comparisons to be added over time.

Language

Content is currently in English. Finnish-language versions of all pages are planned and will be added progressively. The site URL is kobudo.fi — a Finnish-registered domain — and the default language for visitors without an expressed preference is Finnish.

Contributing

If you notice an error in kata names, lineage details, or bibliographic information — or if you have sources that would improve the coverage — contributions are welcome.

Please raise an issue or pull request in the project repository, or contact the site maintainer directly. All contributions should cite sources; unsourced claims will not be added to the reference pages.

Technical

The site is built with Docusaurus and deployed as a static site. Content is written in Markdown. The design uses Tailwind CSS and targets WCAG 2.2 Level AAA accessibility compliance throughout.