Hapuka, Kobudo (古武道 ) means old martial ways. It refers usually to forms of martial arts that were formed before the Meiji restoration of 1868. There are two categories of kobudo; Nihon No Kobudo (日本の古武道 ) which refers to mainland Japanese martial arts, such as kenjutsu, jujutsu, sojutsu, bojutsu, naginatajutsu, shurikenjutsu, etc. Essentially martial arts used by the Samurai warrior caste. Training methods for this category are almost always paired when practical. Some of the older schools such as Shosho-ryu, Yagyu Shingan-ryu & Takenouchi-ryu still have techniques that are used in period armour, referred to as Kacchu bujutsu (甲冑武術 ). The other category is Ryukyu Kobudo (琉球古武道 ) or Okinawa no Kobudo (沖縄の古武道 ) which is refers to martial arts originating from the Ryukyu archipelago or Okinawa. The origins and training methods in this category of kobudo are very different from it's mainland Japanese counterpart, due to Chinese cultural influences. Ryukyu/Okinawa no Kobudo includes bojutsu (different in format to Japanese bojutsu), nunchakujutsu, saijutsu, tonfajutsu, suruchinjutsu and kempo/te/karate. Training methods are done solo in kata form to record and preserve technique as a database and then paired in kumite form to teach oyo/bunkai. Hope this helps.
Translation of what Steve said into laymans terms - Kobudo can either mean arts (mainly weapons-based) practiced in Japan such as "proper" jujutsu, kenjutsu (a sword art) or naginatajutsu (use of the naginata or halberd) or those from the Ryukyu area or Okinawa such traditional karate or use of the nunchaku, tonfa, sai etc. When most westerners think of Kobudo, it is normally the Okinawan variety that they are on about.
Aye man! Nothing is simple with Japanese and Okinawan terminology, or so I'm finding out by reading posts around here!
I remember reading somewhere that the Kanji for Kobudo roughly translates to "the old way of stopping war." Just an interesting note I thought would be useful to add.
It's actually the kanji for bu (武 ) in budo. Bu is comprised of two characters, tomeru (止める ) which means to stop or suppress and Hoko (戈 ) which means spear or lance. It has nothing to do with stopping a spear or stopping war, it means to suppress revolt via the use of the spear/lance. Hope this helps.
I've also seen another interpretation of "BU/MU", that the kanji radical for "stop" used here is actually a variant of a pre-modern form of the kanji for "SOKU/ashi" for foot/leg, and that the kanji meant "advancing on foot with an spear/lance/halberd" and from there "warriors" or "things military". Source: Henshall, Kenneth. "A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters", (c) 1988. I'll step on the toes of other kobudo'ers here (people do correct me if I'm wrong!) and say no, it's not one art at all. It's a catch-all term for all such pre-modern martial arts or ancient-weapons arts. In other words, traditional jujutsu, classical spear fighting, or Japanese archery are all arts that are Nihon kobudo, while traditional karate and the weapon arts associated with them are all Ryukyu kobudo.
