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Other Styles

Various kobudo practitioners demonstrating different styles

Beyond the three major lineages, several further traditions preserve Ryukyuan weapon techniques — some focused on single weapons, others integrated into karate systems.

Motobu Udun-di (本部御殿手)​

The palace art of the Motobu royal family. Registered with the Nihon Kobudō Kyōkai as 琉球王家秘伝本部御殿手 (representative: 本部 朝正 Motobu Chōsei).

This art is described as a palace-guard style including both empty-hand methods and weapon use — particularly swords and dual-sword methods (nito). The royal family context means this tradition was not taught publicly during the kingdom era; modern transmission reflects 20th-century formalization.

Tokushinryū Kobudo (徳心流古武道)​

Tokushinryū is a post-war organization that assembled a curriculum drawing from multiple Okinawan lineages. Its bō kata list includes several families (Sakugawa, Shūshi, Chatan Yara, Tsuken) alongside others not central to the Taira or Matayoshi lists.

The Tokushinryū kata comparison table in the Kata section shows how the same family name can appear with distinct choreographies across four different organizations.

Okinawa Gōjū-ryū Bujutsu (沖縄剛柔流武術)​

Primarily an empty-hand karate system, Okinawa Gōjū-ryū Bujutsu is listed among the Nihon Kobudō Kyōkai's 空手・琉球古武術 entries. Representative: 東恩納 盛男 (Higashionna Morio).

In practice, some branches of Gōjū-ryū include ancillary weapon work (particularly with bō). Its primary significance for kobudo research is as context — many karate organisations added weapon curricula drawn from Taira-line or Matayoshi material in the late 20th century.

Karate-Based Weapon Curricula​

Several mainland and Okinawan karate organizations added weapon kata to their curricula in the post-war period, typically sourced from Taira-line instruction. Groups such as Shōrin-ryū, Isshin-ryū, and various Shotokan affiliates adopted bō kata like Shūshi no Kon and Sakugawa no Kon. These are listed in the Kata section under "Karate weapon syllabi."

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Individual profiles for Tokushinryū and karate-based weapon curricula will be added as further research is compiled.