A jō (杖:じょう) is an approximately four-foot (1.28 m) long wooden staff, used in some Japanese martial arts. The martial art of wielding the jō is called jōjutsu or jōdō; aiki-jō is a set of techniques in aikido which uses the jō to illustrate aikido's principles with a weapon. The jō staff is shorter than the bō. A foot (plural: feet; symbol or abbreviation: ft or, sometimes, ′ – a prime) is a unit of length, in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... The metre, or meter (U.S.), is a measure of length. ... Trunks A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood is derived from woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ... // A staff is a large, thick stick or stick-shaped object used to help with walking or as a status symbol or a weapon. ... Hawaiian State Grappling Championships. ... Jodo (Japanese:杖術), or Jojutsu, is a Japanese martial art using staves (jo), similar to bojutsu, in defense against the Japanese sword. ... Aikido is a modern Japanese budō, developed by Morihei Ueshiba between the 1920s and the 1960s primarily from Daitō-ryÅ« aiki-jÅ«jutsu. ... A bō is usually around six feet long and wielded with both hands due to its weight and size. ...

The jō is still used by some Japanese police forces.

Historical/Legendary Anecdotes

The techniques for jō were reportedly invented by Muso Gonnosuke after he was defeated by Miyamoto Musashi (sometime between 1608 and 1611, according to Kenji Tokitsu) in a duel. The record mentioning this duel, the Nitenki, recounts: Muso Gonnosake by unknown artist Musô Gonnosuke Katsukichi (夢想權之助勝吉) was a samurai and the traditional founder of the Koryu school of jojutsu known as Shintō Musō-ryÅ« (神道夢想流/神道無想流). He is perhaps most famous for his duels with the legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. ... Miyamoto Musashi killing a nue, by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861). ... ESkog 18:58, 20 July 2005 (UTC) Categories: Possible copyright violations ... On 11 July 1804, Alexander Hamilton was fatally wounded in a duel with Aaron Burr at Weehauken, New Jersey that had immense political impact in the early United States and is arguably the most famous duel in history. ...

"When Musashi was in Edo, he met an adept named Muso Gonnosuke, who asked to fight him. Gonnosuke used a wooden sword. Musashi was in the process of making a small bow; he picked up a piece of firewood. Gonnosuke attacked him without even bowing, but he received a blow from Musashi that made him fall down. He was impressed and left."

A different text, the Kaijo Monogatari (dated to 1666) differs considerably from the Nitenkis version. In it, Gonnosuke is a boastful and brash warrior who duels Musashi (intending to see how Musashi compares with Musashi's father in swordsmanship) in Akashi, not Edo, and wielding a staff four shaku in length and reinforced with steel rings. After his defeat, he then went to Mount Homan-zan in Chikuzen (near Fukuoka), where he practiced considerably, changing his preferred weapon to four shaku and two sun in length - 1.28 meters as compared to 1.2 meters. This school was called the Shinto Muso-ryū because of Gonnosuke's previous training under Sakurai Osuminokami Yoshikatsu of the Shinto-ryū.^{[citation needed]} Akashi (明石市; -shi) is a city located in southern Hyogo, Japan, on the Inland Sea west of Kobe. ... Edo (Japanese: 江戸, literally: bay-door, estuary, pronounced //), once also spelled Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Japanese unit. ... The article incorporates text from OpenHistory. ... This page is about Fukuoka, Fukuoka (福岡市), a city in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. ... Shinto-ryu can refer to several styles of classical Japanese swordsmanship used by the samurai: Katori Shinto-ryu Kashima Shinto-ryu or to some other martial art: Shinto Muso-ryu, a school of jojutsu Shindo-ryu, a modern style of karate See also koryu Note that the spellings shinto and...

The school he founded to transmit his techniques has some old records which claims that Gonnosuke, struck by his defeat, went into solitary meditation until he received divine inspiration in a dream; he then invented techniques to fight against Musashi's two swords using only a stick, and defeated Musashi on their next encounter. Assuming the records are accurate and genuine, this would be the only time Musashi was defeated. ^{[citation needed]}

The usage of various stick weapons has existed in one form or another long before Muso Gonnosuke invented his techniques, but his school, Shinto Muso-ryū, was probably the first known professional school that dedicated itself to the art of using a jō against a swordsman. ^{[citation needed]}

Several traditional Japanese koryū (traditional warrior styles) used the jō like a sword. The added length of the jō was meant to give it an advantage over the sword. Further, its wood construction allowed a fighter to improvise a jō quickly from a tree, branch, or other pole.^{[citation needed]} KoryÅ« (古流) is a Japanese word that is used in association with the ancient Japanese martial arts. ...

Those who believe most martial arts devices used as weapons arose from commonly used implements believe that the jō arose from poles used to bolt doors.^{[citation needed]}

References

• Kenji Tokitsu (2004). Miyamoto Musashi: His life and writings, 67-68. ISBN 1-59030-045-9.

ESkog 18:58, 20 July 2005 (UTC) Categories: Possible copyright violations ...

External links

• Jo page

See also

• Bo
• Hanbo
• Shinai
• Tambo
• Quarterstaff
• List of martial arts weapons