Jo Weapon
A jō is a long wooden staff, about 1.276 metres (4.18 foot) in length, which is used in various Japanese martial arts such as jōdō or jōjutsu. Aiki-jō, a set of aikido techniques, makes use of a jō to demonstrate the principles of aikido with a weapon. It is shorter in length compared to the bō, and it is still currently used by quite a few members of the Japanese police force.
The techniques in using a jō were said to be devised by Musō Gonnosuke Katsuyoshi after losing a fight with Miyamoto Musashi, a famous swordsman. According to Dr. Kenji Tokitsu, a Japanese martial arts author and practitioner, Gonnosuke fought with Musashi in a duel that happened sometime between the years 1608 and 1611. When Musashi was in the city of Edo (now Tokyo), he met Gonnosuke, an expert in wooden sword, who demanded to fight him.
A different version of the story can be found in the Kaijo Monogatari, a text dated 1666, which tells that Gonnosuke was a boastful and arrogant warrior. In the city of Akashi, not Edo, he challenged Musashi in a duel to compare the swordsmanship of Musashi and his father. In the fight, Gonnosuke used a staff, about four feet in length, which was reinforced with rings of steel.
Long before Gonnosuke devised his techniques, the use of different stick weapons has already existed. However, Shintō Musō-ryū, Gonnosuke’s school, was the first professional school that taught the art of and techniques in using a jō. Branded USB Sticks.
Other traditional Japanese martial arts schools utilise the jō staff as a sword. The advantage of a jō over other swords is that it has added length. Likewise, the wood construction of a jō allows a combatant to improvise it quickly from a branch or a tree.