Jodo

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For other uses, see Jodo (disambiguation).

Jodo (Japanese:杖道), or Jojutsu(japanese:杖術), is a Japanese martial art using staves (jo), similar to bojutsu, in defense against the Japanese sword. The jo staff is usually about 3 to 5 feet (0.9 to 1.5 m) long, about the average length of a walking stick. However the art was not used, as one might fancifully imagine, by travelers to ward off aggressive bandits or swordsmen, but was the province of professional warriors.

1 Origin of the first school of Jojutsu
2 The jo in Aikido
3 See also
4 References
5 Lists of martial arts that include Jodo/Jojutsu
6 External links

[edit] Origin of the first school of Jojutsu

Shinto Muso-ryu Jodo , (formerly Shinto Muso-ryu Jojutsu), is reputed to have been invented by the great swordsman Muso Gonnosuke about 400 years ago, after a bout won by the legendary Miyamoto Musashi. According to this tradition, Gonnosuke challenged Musashi using a bo, or long staff, a weapon he was said to wield with great skill. Although there are no records of the duel outside of the oral tradition of the Shinto Muso Ryu, it is believed that Musashi caught Gonnosuke's bo in a two sword "X" block (juji dome). Once in this position, Gonnosuke could not prevent Musashi from delivering a counterattack, and Musashi elected to spare his life. Gonnosuke then withdrew to a Shinto shrine to meditate. After a period of purification, meditation, and training, Gonnosuke claimed to have received a divine vision. By shortening the length of the bo staff from roughly 185 cm to 128 cm (or, in the Japanese measurements, four shaku, two sun and one bu), he could increase the versatility of the weapon, giving him the ability to use techniques created for the long staff, spearfighting and swordsmanship. The length of the new weapon was longer than the tachi long sword of the period, but short enough to allow the reversal of the striking end of the jo in much tighter quarters than a bo staff. Gonnosuke could alter the techniques he used with the jo stick, depending on the opponent he faced, to provide himself with many different options of attack. He named his style Shintō Musō-ryū and challenged Musashi again. This time, when Musashi attempted to use the juji dome block on the jo staff, Gonnosuke was able to wheel around the other end of the staff (because of the reduced length), forcing Musashi into a position where he had to concede defeat. Returning the courtesy he received during their previous duel, Gonnosuke spared Musashi's life. This may be a fabricated origin of the creation of jojutsu, as the oral tradition of the Shinto Muso-Ryu is the only mention of this duel, or for that matter, a person defeating Musashi in combat. Witness accounts of Musashi's life, as well as his own writings, insist he retired from dueling undefeated. What is known, however, is that Gonnosuke eventually became the martial arts instructor for the Kuroda clan of northern Kyūshū, where Jojutsu remained an exclusive art of the clan until the early 1900s, when the artform was taught to the general public.

The modern study of the jo, known as Jodo (way of the stick), has essentially two branches. One is the koryu, or "old school" Jodo, which also incorporates other arts and weapons, such as the short staff (tanjo), the chained sickle (kusarigama), the police truncheon (jitte), and a lesser-known art called Hojojutsu, the art of tying up one's opponent after subduing him. All of these point to Jodo's strong connections to law-enforcement, which is probably what it was originally used for. The other branch is called Seitei Jodo, which is practiced by the Japanese Kendo Federation (ZNKR) in conjunction with Kendo, the art of Japanese fencing, and Iaido, the art of drawing and cutting with a real blade. Seitei Jodo starts with 12 kata (or "forms") which are drawn from the koryu system. After mastering these 12 kata the student continues with the study of the koryu. Today, jojutsu has also been adapted for use in the Japanese police force, who refer to the art as keijo-jutsu, or police stick art.

[edit] The jo in Aikido

work in progress

[edit] See also

Stick fighting
Aikido - Martial art that incorporates jo training. Note that this is not the jo training practiced in Jodo.
Shinto Muso-ryu

[edit] References

Michael Finn: The Way of the Stick Paul H Crompton, 1984, ISBN 0-901-76472-8
Pascal Krieger: Jodô - la voie du bâton / The way of the stick (bilingual French/English), Geneva (CH) 1989, ISBN 2-9503214-0-2
Matsui: Jodo Nyuumon (Japanese, with illustration of all seiteigatas, kihon) Tokyo, 2002, ISBN 4-884-58018-4