Advantages of Jo and Bo: A comparitive discussion

[Jonathon Sumner]

I thought it might be interesting to see if any one was up debating the pros & cons… the advantages and disadvantages… of the Jo and Bo an effective weapons.

Does one have a clear advantage over the other?

JS

[Andy Watson]

Jonathon

The history of MSR jo is in itself quite a good explanation of jo v bo even if the stories surrounding Muso Gonnosuke are mythical.

As far as I can remember (and I ask not to be challenged on the accuracy of this as it is all very subjective) from the various stories, Gonnosuke found advantage in the length of the jo in that it was possible to wield it in a similar fashion to all the weapons with which he was an exponent. Relating to the bo specifically, when fighting Musashi, the bo's excessive length meant that it was easily defeated by Musashi's juji dome technique (cross block) but this was not so when it came to the more versatile length of the jo.

If you observe the kata "Kengome" you can see how the jo's length allows techniques like kaeshi zuki (basic thrust) to come into play where this would be less likely with the bo.

I personally believe that the jo's advantage over the bo comes about by being just long enough to outrange the sword but not so long that it is unwieldy and prevents the exponent from reaching both ends at the same time (and thus prevents reversing techniques).