jo

When one considers it is really only a short, round stick of wood, it is even more intriguing to ponder what an elemental gap the hardwood jo has filled in the history and evolution of the martial disciplines of Japan. The long sword or katana, was the central arm of the Japanese warrior throughout most of his reign, and is undoubtedly the most highly developed in its application. The spear, dipped, according to Japanese mythology, into the vast misted emptiness of space by a primeval god and lifted out to drip from its point the droplets of firmament that became the islands of Japan, has almost a religious connotation attached to it. And the bo, or long wooden staff, is the most archaic of weaponry in Japan. In comparison, the jo seems so very humble. And yet, the jo possesses many of the attributes of all three of these revered arms: the slashing stroke of the katana, the thrusting reach of the spear, and the reversible striking power and indestructibility of the bo. It is little surprise that, for all its simplicity, once its development began, a forest of schools and masters soon sprang up to further refine and perfect the jo as a formidable weapon.

To trace the history of the short stick in combat in Japan would be an impossible task, dating as it must, from the moment a prehistoric aborigine there snatched up a piece of dead wood to use. In Japan, with its many oak and cedar forests, this opportunity must have come early and often. There is no evidence, however, of a systematized method of combat with the short wooden staff until the Muromachi era (1336-1600), when the rapidly developing samurai class began to incorporate it into the first of the traditional ryu.

When the samurai wielded the wooden staff, though, he chose almost exclusively the bo, a weapon of between five and seven feet in length, virtually ignoring any kind of shorter stick weapon. Just why the jo was neglected is a mystery, although some guesses can be ventured. First, the length of the bo made it an extremely effective polearm against other long weapons like the spear and naginata, both of which were in popular use at that time. In fact, in many schools of classical bujutsu the bo is gripped and manipulated in a manner very similar to techniques with those two weapons.

However, after the encounter of Muso Gonnosuke with the swordsman Miyamoto Musashi and the founding of Shindo Muso Ryu the Jo became a weapon to be studied by any self respecting professional warrior and clan.

Martial scholars estimate that nearly 350 other classical bugei-ryu subsequently adopted various jo techniques in their schools. The methods of classical jo jutsu, contained within the kata of these ryu, are incredibly diverse, dealing with every possible situation in which the practitioner might find himself. As with any traditional koryu, most techniques with the jo features movements designed to counter an attack by a swordsman, the katana being the principal weapon of the feudal martial artist. But within these kata too, are a multitude of techniques to be used in confined spaces, against multiple opponents or when encumbered in armor.

The use of the Jo in modern times, has fractionalized into two camps. Jodo, following the Shindo Muso Ryu, Aiki Jo, a looser form of Jo re discovered and introduced by Mr Ueshiba. However, there is a third set or possibly a subset of Aiki Jo which is the Jo associated with Koryu Ju Jutsu schools. This last set truly gave birth to modern Aiki Jo since it would have been the forms Mr Ueshiba was exposed to in his study of Koryu Ju Jutsu.