“If you train only kobudo it’s ok, but if you do both karate and kobudo then you will be better……… Both karate and kobudo influence how you hold and use the weapons. So it’s best to do both to understand each one.” (End quote) – Takehiro Gaja 9th dan Uechi-ryu
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Karate and kobudo the two arts are very different, yet inextricably linked. Literally translated, kobudo means “old martial way.”
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When you train kobudo, true, you’re learning how to use weapons. You’re also learning how to defend against those weapons.
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You build a foundation that allows you to use almost anything as a weapon. While you’re training with these seemingly-outdated weapons, you’re internalizing a set of movements, mechanics and principles that you can apply to everyday objects: an umbrella, a belt, a shoe, a stick, and other random implements found in your environment. The unique shapes of the kobudo weapons make you adept at handling almost any object, irrespective of shape, as a weapon.
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But people don’t know this. So they think you always have to carry around the weapons of kobudo, instead of using your surroundings. There’s some value in the confidence that comes with that, if nothing else. But that’s not where the true value is. No, the real value of training karate and kobudo together is knowing that………. Okinawan Karate and kobudo were never meant to be separated!
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The two systems evolved together. Do you really think that karate evolved only as a means of defending against other unarmed opponents? Of course not.
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Training kobudo alongside karate, makes your karate better. It can increase wrist and gripping strength, improve eye/hand coordination, and increase overall power in empty hand techniques. It can increase focus, give you a better understanding of balance, and push / pull concepts that are required when employing traditional weapons or empty hand techniques.
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It makes you more knowledgeable about what your techniques were originally designed to do. Alongside your karate, it can make you a better martial artist, plain and simple……. Anything that makes you a better martial artist, is something worth exploring. 
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Inspired by a post from Jesse Enkamp.

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