Jubei no Jo

[Mekugi]

Hi!!

I was talking to a friend of mine in Nagoya about this, the Owari flavor of "Seigo Ryu" (the Owari Kan people call it Shinkage ryu - dunno why) seems to have the Jubei no Jo as well (to the best of my limited understanding). Because I have the vocabulary of a 4 year old kid in Japanese, I find it hard to fully grasp the meaning of what they were saying - so I am a little confused. Apparently- Jubei was a person with one eye (?) and that the Jo kata were rumored to be based off of/created by him? The names I am hearing are not corresponding to my references (that being Koryu books and Koryu.com) either. I am hearing Seigo Ryu and Shinkage Ryu...are these all variations of the same name or are they completely different Ryuha- or is it my inherent ethnocentrism that is leading me to miss something? Are they having the same kata with differences in interpretation- just different branches?

Info would greatly be appreciated, and it would help understand what it is they are telling me! Please pardon my lack of precision in naming things...it's a little confounding :)

Thanks ya'all!!

-Russ

[Meik Skoss]

Jubei no jo is a set of techniques for stick created by Yagyu Jubei Mitsutoshi, son of Yagyu Tajima-no-kami Munenori, and instructor in swordsmanship/martial strategy to Tokugawa Iemitsu (third of the Tokugawa shogunal line). The weapon is unusual in that it is made of steel. Think of the Mercedes Benz three-pointed star, but with a flange at the end of each radial arm. Bamboo is inserted in the interstices, the whole thing is then wrapped with wisteria vine or paper, then lacquered. I don't recall the exact length, and my training version of the Jubei no jo isn't immediately at hand, but I believe it's about 4.5 shaku in length and 5 bu in diameter.

The Jubei no jo five techniques are all recombinations/derivations of the standard Shinkage-ryu toho waza, modified for an impact weapon. All of them are performed against a long sword, which is operated from chudan no kurai (kamae). It's REALLY neat stuff.

Hope this helps.

[Mekugi]

outstanding!

Thank you!
=============