The Kobudo of Shimabuku Tatsuo – Bo of Kyan

Source documentation for Isshinryu Kobudo must start with The article by Joe Swift. It can be found at misshinryu,ciom . The article is‘The Kobudo of Shimbuku Tatsuo’ .http://www.msisshinryu.com/articles/swift/kobudo.shtml  I suggest you read it.



I think it is necessary to go one step further, to look as closely as possible at the possible source versions of those forms and reflect on the changes Shimabuku Tatsuo may have made. We are fortunate so many of these forms , but not all, are today shared on YouTube to allow us this privilege. This effort will not resolve questions, simply allow us to look ourself.



For a starting point I’d like to use the form Tokomeni No Kon which was taught by his instructor Kyan Chotoku. To see if I would like to share Tokumine no Kon by Nakazato Joen senior instructor of the group Shorinji-ryu and student of Kyan.





Another version of the form has been saved, performed by Nakama Haruka , a student of Okuhara Bunei who was also a student of Kyan.





Kyan was reputed to change his kata at times. Does this change reflect this or are the changes pure Shimabuku? As I said we won’t answer such questions here.

We have a video of Isshinryu’s founder performing his version in 1958 which is,



We can see the differences; some of the repetitions are gone and other changes.

The later version recorded in 1966 is



This is then much of the standard version used across Isshinryu today. But we can see that Shimabuku Tatsuo did approach bo training as pliable for his needs.

Well this is a start to understanding the sources of Isshihnryu Kobudo.