Aikido Australia Takemusu Aiki AssociationVisit a dojo

記録 Archive

Aiki-jo: stick training

Jason Wotherspoon Original website

About the jo (stave, staff, or stick)

The Aikido Jo is a straight, smooth and round stick of Japanese White-Oak, roughly 5 feet in length and ¾ to 1 inch thick. It is a very versatile weapon, able to be held and used either end, and able to strike like a sword, or strike by thrusting the tip to the target. It also has a great defensive advantage, with its long reach and repertoire of techniques that flow smoothly from one to the next, in the hands of an experienced practitioner is also a very formidable weapon. As with the bokken, jo training is a very important part of Aikido. Many of the jo movements are related to empty-hand movements, so study of one helps the other. It teaches us an extra dimension of distancing between us and the opponent, and introduces us to the use of hip movement to create smooth, easy flowing movement, an inportant ability when faced with multiple attackers.

Origins of Aiki Jo techniques

It is not entirely certain where O-Sensei derived the Aikido stave techniques from. They are definitely different from Shindo-Muso Ryu Jo-Jutsu, a style of stave techniques designed to deal specifically with attacks by a swordsman. Many of the Jo techniques exhibit a similarity to yari (spear) and naginata (halberd), which O-Sensei is known to have studied, Hozoin Ryu Yari-Jutsu being one of them. The Kashima Shinto Ryu also teaches jo, naginata and yari techniques, it is possible that Aiki Jo is a construction of O-Sensei’s based upon these known styles.

An organisational overview

(NOTE: The term “old series” refers to the techniques performed as they appear in Saito Sensei’s first series of books, “Traditional Aikido”

1. Jo Suburi

(20 techniques - all in left hanmi)

  1. Choku tsuki (jo kamae - chudan tsuki, right hand grabs centre of jo)
  2. Kaeshi tsuki (jo kamae - simultaneous block and chudan tsuki right hand grabs top of jo)
  3. Ushiro tsuki (jo kamae - right hand grabs top of jo, push bottom end to rear)
  4. Tsuki gedan gaeshi (tsuki kamae, 3 steps, tsuki, gedan gaeshi, strike at knee)
  5. Tsuki jodan gaeshi (tsuki kamae, 3 steps, tsuki, jodan gaeshi, sshomen uchi komi)
  6. Shomen uchi komi (ken kamae, raise back to jodan kamae, step foward shomen uchi)
  7. Renzoku uchi komi (ken kamae, as #6, add yokomen uchi with L foot forward)
  8. Menuchi gedan gaeshi (ken kamae, cut, step back gedan gaeshi, step fwd strike knee)
  9. Menuchi ushiro tsuki (ken kamae cut, R hand take end, thrust to rear, turn hips)
  10. Gyaku yokomen ushiro tsuki (ken kamae, step fwd yokomen uchi w/ L foot, thrust to rear)
  11. Katate gedan gaeshi (tsuki kamae, slide back to R, jo in R hand, strike upwards and fwd)
  12. Katate toma uchi (tsuki kamae, slide back L or R, jo over head, step and strike forward)
  13. Katate hachi-no-ji gaeshi (jo kamae, figure 8 movment, L to R to L hanmi)
  14. Hasso gaeshi uchi (ken kamae, step back to hasso kamae, step forward with shomen uchi)
  15. Hasso gaeshi tsuki (as above, R hand takes end, slide forward and thrust)
  16. Hasso gaeshi ushiro tsuki (as above, L hand takes end, slide back thrust to rear)
  17. Hasso gaeshi ushiro uchi (as above, turn to rear, strike shomen uchi)
  18. Hasso gaeshi ushiro barai (as above, turn to rear, step back and sweep down to right)
  19. Hidari nagare gaeshi uchi (ken kamae, cut, turn to L jodan gaeshi, shomen uchi komi)
  20. Migi nagare gaeshi tsuki (ken kamae, step with L and cut, turn R, raise & block, tsuki)

21. No.19 and 20 flowing together (sometimes merged to form 21)

2. Roku no jo

(3 techniques - 6 movement exercise reduced to 4)

  1. Choku tsuki from tsuki kamae
  2. 2 + 3. Jodan gaeshi uchi from tsuki kamae
  3. 4 + 5. gedan gaeshi from ken kamae
  4. 6. Chudan barai return to tsuki kamae

Movements 2+3 are later merged to one step, then movements 4+5 are merged to one step, so the pattern becomes a 4 movement exercise.

3. Happo tsuki

(8 directional thrusting strike, including variation on suburi #6)

4. Sanjuichi-no-jo

(31 movement jo kata based upon the 20 suburi)

5. Jusan-no-jo

(13 movement jo kata based upon the 20 suburi)

6. Jo awase

(8 techniques - blending movements with a partner. Awase #1-8 are old series)

  1. Ichi no awase (From tsuki kamae, kaeshi tsuki, jodan gaeshi uchi against chudan tsuki)
  2. Ni no awase (From tsuki kamae, kaeshi tsuki, jodan barai, chudan tsuki against chudan tsuki)
  3. San no awase (From tsuki kamae, gedan gaeshi against chudan tsuki)
  4. Yon no awase (From ken kamae, shomen uchi gedan gaeshi against chudan tsuki)
  5. Go no awase (From ken kamae, chudan barai, chudan tsuki against chudan tsuki)
  6. Roku no awase (From ken kamae, jodan gaeshi, yokomen uchi against shomen uchi komi)
  7. Shichi no awase (From gedan gaeshi, chudan barai, chudan tsuki against chudan tsuki)
  8. Hachi no awase (From tsuki kamae, choku barai chudan tsuki against chudan tsuki)

7. Ken-tai-jo

(10 techniques - jo against sword)

8. Kumi-jo

(20 techniques, paired partner practice, old series, and new series)

1. Ichi no jo

  • a) Old series: (3 steps - Kaeshi tsuki against tsuki, jodan gaeshi uchi against chudan tsuki
  • b) New series: (4 steps - Kaeshi tsuki against tsuki, jodan gaeshi uchi against chudan tsuki, yokomen uchi against jodan tsuki)

2. Ni no jo

  • a) Old series: (4 steps - Jodan barai against jodan tsuki, gedan barai, shomen uchi against gedan yokomen uchi,)
  • b) New series: (4 steps - Jodan barai against jodan tsuki, gedan barai, against gedan yokomen uchi, tsuki against tsuki)

3. San no jo

  • a) Old series: (3 steps - gedan barai against gedan tsuki, chudan barai, chudan tsuki against chudan tsuki)
  • b) New series (3 steps - gedan barai against gedan tsuki, chudan barai, against chudan tsuki, chudan tsuki against chudan barai)

4. Yon no jo

  • a) Old series: (3 steps - toma uchi against jodan tsuki, chudan tsuki against chudan tsuki)
  • b) New series (same as old series, but uchi blocks wiht toma uchi in hito e mi

5. Go no jo

  • a) Old series: (4 steps - jodan barai against jodan tsuki, gedan kaeshi barai against katate gedan gaeshi and kaeshi barai)
  • b) New series: (as old series, but changes in uke footwork)

6. Roku no jo

  • a) Old series: (4 steps - chudan osae against chudan tsuki, jodan osae against shomen uchi komi, nage)
  • b) New series (under construction)

7. Shichi no jo

  • a) Old series: (Gedan osae against gedan yokomen uchi, chudan barai against chudan tsuki, jodan osae against yokomen uchi, nage)
  • b) New series (under construction)

8. Hachi no jo

  • a) Old series: (under construction)
  • b) New series: (2 steps - Jodan tsuki against jodan gaeshi uchi, osae, then nage)

9. Kyu no jo

  • a) Old series: (under construction)
  • b) New series: (2 steps - chudan barai against chudan tsuki, jodan tsuki against jodan gaeshi uchi, nage)

10. Jyu no jo

  • a) Old series: (under construction)
  • b) New series: (4 steps - hasso gaeshi against chudan tsuki, kaiten barai against migi then hiari jodan gaeshi uchi, nage)

9. Sanjuichi-no-kumi-jo

(31 movement jo kata with set partner movements)

10. Jusan-no-jo awase

(13 movement jo kata with set partner movements)

11. Jo nage

(7 techniques - throws when attacker tries to disarm your jo. #1-7 are old series)

  1. Shiho nage (from L and R hanmi, tsuki kamae, stepping omote)
  2. Jodan barai (from L and R hanmi, tsuki kamae, sweep tip over opponents head and down)
  3. Kokyu nage (from L and R hanmi, tsuki kamae, tsuki past opponents back)
  4. Hiza barai (from L and R hanmi, tsuki kamae, catch behind knee before grab, then pull back)
  5. Nikyo katame (from L and R hanmi, tsuki kamae, finish with kata katame)
  6. Kokyu nage (from L and R hanmi, tsuki kamae, grip from behind, throw to rear)
  7. Kokyu nage (from L and R hanmi, tsuki kamae, grip from behind, throw forward)

12. Jo dori

(11 techniques - disarming attacker with jo. #1-11 are old series)

  1. Ichi no dori (ai hanmi, take jo, perform gedan tsuki to opponents back)
  2. Ni no dori (ai hanmi, take jo and perform shiho nage omote)
  3. San no dori (gyaku hanmi, enter and take jo, turn to throw forward kokyu)
  4. Yon no dori (ai hanmi, enter and take jo as in kosa dori, turn and kokyu)
  5. Go no dori (ai hanmi, enter and throw as in morote dori kokyu nage)
  6. Roku no dori (ai hanmi, enter and take L elbow - hiji katame)
  7. Shichi no dori (ai hanmi, enter with L foot - shomen uchi kokyu nage)
  8. Hachi no dori (enter as above, take jo in both hands - throw as in juji gurame)
  9. Kyu no dori (gyaku hanmi, enter to rear and turn, change to ai hanmi - kokyu nage)
  10. Jyu no dori (gyaku hanmi, enter to rear and turn as in kote gaeshi, sweep over head)
  11. Jyuichi no dori (gyaku hanmi, enter to rear, catch elbow down, step on jo with inside foot)

13. Supplemental Jo warmup exercises

  1. Toma uchi (swinging L to R, changing hanmi L to R)
  2. Hachi-no-ji gaeshi (continuously swinging on the spot, L and R hand)
  3. Jodan gaeshi (rotating jo above head and down behind back continuously)