Non Martial Training with a Jo

[Andrew]

I am curious as to who trains with a Jo to exercise their internal skills. It does not need to be martially. Just wondering what type of body manipulations practitioners are achieving with their partners?
Can you throw your opponent off of the Jo?
Can you do this with minimal movement?
Can you gently hold the Jo horizontally extended out from your Chest/ Stomach and have some one push on the other end forcefully and remain immoveable?
While doing a similar pushing exercise mentioned above, could you cause your partner to loose their balance, convulse, become weak in their legs and/or arms?
Does anyone train this way with perhaps another tool or weapon besides a Jo?
Hopefully this is an appropriate and interesting topic to discuss in this forrum.

[J. L. Badgley]

I'm not sure I understand what you are asking.

Are you asking about excercising with a jo/walking stick? There are things like Jodo-Taiso, which are basically just excercises to get you limbered up. Are you looking for dance with a walking stick?

I don't know that I understand why you would care about pushing and pulling against someone with a jo if you aren't in some kind of martial contest, even if it is highly abstracted.

Or are you talking about something like 'aiki-jo' where you are using the jo to help you develop other skills? It sounds like you are getting into concepts of ki energy and 'dim mak' type of techniques.


In jodo, I practice to not lose my balance, to break my opponent's balance, to present an adequate threat to encourage them to give up fighting, to practice timing of jo and body to remove any openings my opponent could have for counterattack. (Not that I do any of them well, mind you)


I don't know if that corresponds to what you are considering.

[nicojo]

Hi Mr. Prochnow,

I read all those threads in the aiki forums about kuzushi and what not, so I think I have an idea of what you are after. For what it's worth, I think what you are talking about is probably not the same as what Mr. Badgley is thinking about, re: "aikijo" in the sense of aikikai techniques.

Anyhow, your training tips sound like very interesting techniques and maybe I'll look into them sometime. I think most people who look in this forum are involved with SMR Jo, and so they may not be as focused on things outside that curriculum. But a few like me who aren't in SMR drop in to see what's going on in this forum, so I hope you get some more responses.

[Andrew]

Mr. J. Nicolaysen,

I am also familiar with the kuzushi thread, and what I refer to in this forum is exactly in correspondence with that. I was just trying to maybe tap into another group that may have aspects in their art, which allow them to train in a similar manner. I would like to see how many responses I receive and I would love for some to add and have me try new things or look at new perspectives.

There is no need for MR. Prochnow. Andrew will do fine.

[nicojo]

I was just trying to maybe tap into another group that may have aspects in their art, which allow them to train in a similar manner. I would like to see how many responses I receive and I would love for some to add and have me try new things or look at new perspectives.

I think that's a great idea Andrew and I hope some others post. It's a good thread idea and I wish I had some input.

[bert sijben]

Hi Andrew,

We always practice our innerskills, we are only growing up.To what you are refering is ma~ski, this is used in aikido, if you are looking for this point than you are a little bit off in relation to jodo.
In Japan there is an expression ski~ari ( this is the time when somebody isn`t paying attention, to you ), while it sometimes it is worthwhile to actually
"kill" to people, your intentions should be focused on making this person see that he is not paying attention. When it is used to scare people of lesser compatability than it is wrong.
Ma ski in jodo is very dangerous, because you are actually going to hit your partner.
What important is in jodo is maai and kiai. They should be in balance.
Say for example a 66 year old women or a 10 year old boy, there kiai and maai maybe different, if you can make an agreement to your self that you haven`t judgement to the speed power or timing of your opponent, than I am sure that your internal skills will flourish.

best regards bert sijben