jojutsu

Jojutsu (Japanese:杖術) or Jodo 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. 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. Nevertheless, he was defeated by Musashi's famous two-sword technique. He then withdrew to a Shinto shrine and after a period of purification, meditation, and training with the staff, created the art of the jo, blending techniques of long staff, spearfighting and swordsmanship with those of other, minor methods of combat. He named his style Shintō Musō-ryū and challenged Musashi again. This time, the faster and more intricate techniques of this shorter weapon allowed Gonnosuke to mount an effective defense and penetrate Musashi's own two-sword strategy. 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 is the Seitei Jodo, which is practiced by the Kendo Federation in conjunction with Kendo, the art of Japanese fencing, and Iaido, the art of drawing and cutting with a real blade. Seitei Jodo consists of, and is limited to, 12 kata (or "forms") which are drawn from the koryu system. 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.

Jojutsu

See also