Nanbudo
南武道A martial art based on evasion, created in 1978 by Yoshinao Nanbu according to APA. Under INF rules, competition covers kata, ju randori and kumite.
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JapanCharacter & Origin
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
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About Nanbudo
Nanbudo (南武道) is a martial art that, according to APA, was created in 1978 by master Yoshinao Nanbu and that APA describes as a defensive art based on evasion. The International Nanbudo Federation (INF) presents it on its website as a modern sport whose main disciplines are kata and the combat disciplines ju randori, nanbudo kumite and ki nagare kumite. According to the French death register INSEE, the founder was born on 13 February 1943 in Hyogo Prefecture and died on 28 April 2020 in Paris.
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According to French Wikipedia, Nanbu studied shito-ryu in Osaka under Chojiro Tani, studied shukokai in Japan at the end of 1966 and in 1970 founded his own karate style, sankukai. The Shuriway website states that in 1978 Nanbu founded his own martial art, nanbudo. According to its website, the INF was formed in the summer of 2010 in Geneva with the aim of reuniting nanbudo organisations. INF rules describe ju randori as a non-contact discipline in which only the defender is scored, and nanbudo kumite as light contact with strike force below 20 percent of possible force. The INF price list from 2025 gives examinations from 1st to 9th dan, a black belt for 1st to 5th dan, a red-and-white belt for 6th to 8th dan and a red-and-black belt for 9th dan. According to MAP, the 7th World Championships in Casablanca in 2025 had over 150 competitors from 17 countries, and the INF states that the 8th World Championships in Istanbul in September 2026 had around 200 athletes from 16 countries.
History
In 2014 the agency APA described nanbudo as a martial art created in 1978 by master Yoshinao Nanbu, founder of the sankukai school. According to French Wikipedia, at the age of 18 Nanbu entered the faculty of economics in Osaka, studied shito-ryu under Chojiro Tani and in 1963 won the Japanese university championship. Wikipedia adds that Henry Plée invited him to Paris in 1964 and that in late 1966 he studied shukokai in Japan, a new style of Tani and Shigeru Kimura. French Wikipedia states that in 1969 Nanbu led the Scottish and Norwegian karate federation, in October 1969 organised the third shukokai world championship in Paris, then left shukokai and in 1970 founded the sankukai style. The website Shuriway writes that in 1978 he founded his own martial art, nanbudo, and in 2018 the INF stated that nanbudo was celebrating 40 years. According to the French death register INSEE, Nanbu was born on 13 February 1943 in Hyogo Prefecture and died on 28 April 2020 in Paris at the age of 77. The INF announced his death the same day and called him the founder of sankukai karate and of nanbudo.
Technique
According to the INF website, kata are practised without weapons or with the weapons bo, katana and jo, and ju randori also with the bo. The INF describes ki nagare as a fighting technique of pushing with the hands, suitable for all age categories. The INF rules in Appendix 3 list the official competition kata: Nanbu shodan, Nanbu nidan, Nanbu sandan, Nanbu yodan, Nanbu godan, Ikkyoku, Sampo sho, Seienchin, Hyaku hachi, Seipai and Shin tajima. French Wikipedia mentions the weapons bo, tonfa, nunchaku and sai and describes randori no kata as seven codified attacks against seven defences based on evasion. The Heiwa blog states that the basis of randori is tenshin, the basic evasion of nanbudo. The agency APA distinguishes three branches of nanbudo: the combat techniques of Budoho, the health-oriented Kidoho and the self-development Noryokukaihatsuho.
Competition
The INF rules describe ju randori as a non-contact discipline. Each competitor performs seven attacks in the order 2 tsuki, 2 mae geri, 2 mawashi geri and 1 tsuki, the defender (uke) may not repeat the same defence twice in a row, and only the defender scores points: 3 for ippon, 2 for waza-ari and 1 for yuko. The contest area is an 8 by 8 m mat square with a one-metre safety strip. The INF rules of 2013 place nanbudo kumite between non-contact ju randori and full contact, with the force of a strike to be under 20 percent of possible strength. A bout has at most three rounds of 2 minutes, weight categories are in steps of 5 kg, and in a tied result the lighter competitor wins. Strikes with the knee, elbow and head, strangulation and throws over the head are among those forbidden. According to the rules, traditional kata have five disciplines and last 30 s to 3 min. According to the agency MAP, the 7th World Championships in Casablanca in 2025 had over 150 competitors from 17 countries and Morocco won 69 medals there. The INF states that the 8th World Championships in Istanbul in September 2026 had around 200 athletes from 16 countries.
Today
According to its website, the INF was founded in the summer of 2010, based in Geneva. At the world championships in Istanbul in September 2026, the general assembly re-elected Arnaud Nkamhoua of France as president, according to the federation's website, elected Giuseppe Ferrara as secretary general and approved moving the seat to Lugano. The federation lists the hosts of the next world championships: Benin in 2027, India in 2028, Morocco in 2029, Senegal in 2030 and France in 2031. According to the INF, the first world cup in the Balance Combat discipline took place in Tokyo in June 2026, with more than 100 athletes from 10 countries. The MAP agency reports that Morocco hosted the world championships in 2025 for the fourth time, after 2011, 2017 and 2022, with the Comité national de nanbudo Maroc, the Fédération Royale marocaine de judo et arts martiaux assimilés and the Moroccan Ministry of Education and Sport as co-organizers. Author Watanabe Yuji writes on note.com that in Japan nanbudo began only in 2005, in the office of the Ninomiya shrine in Kobe.
Did you know
French Wikipedia states that Nanbu's great-grandfather was the sumo wrestler Kimenzan Tanigoro, the 13th yokozuna, and his father Hideyoshi Nanbu held a 5th dan in judo. According to the same Wikipedia, Nanbu was the first Japanese at a European competition, the 1966 Coupe de France in Cannes, and the claim that he defeated Dominique Valera is marked there as undocumented. APA reports that at the first national cup in Ivory Coast in 2014, Minister Michel Alain Lobognon received an honorary 5th dan and first lady Dominique Ouattara a 7th dan. The Treichville cup, with about 250 athletes, was run by the Fédération ivoirienne du Nanbudo. Author Watanabe Yuji writes on note.com that practitioners worldwide are linked by the nanbudo passport, which lets them train in any member country. The INF price list gives the passport at 20 euros.
Frequently asked questions
Who founded nanbudo?
According to APA, nanbudo was created in 1978 by master Yoshinao Nanbu. The French death register INSEE states that he was born on 13 February 1943 and died on 28 April 2020 in Paris.
Is there contact in nanbudo?
INF rules describe ju randori as a non-contact discipline and nanbudo kumite as light contact, where strike force is to be below 20 percent of possible force.
What belts do dan grades wear in nanbudo?
The INF price list from 2025 gives examinations from 1st to 9th dan and belts of black for 1st to 5th dan, red-and-white for 6th to 8th dan and red-and-black for 9th dan.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.