Kobudo, the art of using Okinawan tools as self defense.

Ryukyu Kobu-Do, the Okinawan art of using tools in self defense, first gained prominence around 1314 A.D. when the Japanese government passed two laws that outraged the people of Okinawa. First, it barred all inhabitants of the island from owning or possessing any sort of weapon. Second, it imposed on them a monumental increase in taxes. Deprived of any conventional means of physical protest, the people turned not only to empty handed martial arts forms for protection, but to their farm implements as well.