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paul browne
26th July 2007, 23:27
Hello,
Can anyone tell me whether in the koryu traditions the weapons of Bo and Jo are ever paired, ie. kata in which one is pitted against the other in order to develop techniques that would enable one to overcome the other.
The basis of this question is this, I practice with a fairly heavy Bo. Yesterday I had it with me at my sons aikido class (I practice in another part of the building during his lesson) and one of his instructors hefted the Bo, commented on it's weight and then compared it to his Jo which he briefly ran through moves with (I should add not in a 'mines better than yours' way).
I did however note that I would never be able to match the speed of changes he made, though I do have two foot of stick extra to play with.
This led to me thinking given the supposed origins of the Jo from Muso Gonosuke having been a Bo specialist who 'shrank' his stick, have there been any developments in either art to take account of the others weapon? and does anyone have a practical comparrison of the advantages/disadvantages of one over the other.
thank you for indulging my slightly hypothetical question.
Paul

Paul Steadman
27th July 2007, 20:34
Hello,

I have seen a two person kata with jo vs bo from the Yagyu Shingan-ryu (Chikuosha branch), in which the wielder of the jo overcomes the attacking bo wielder.

Cheers,

paul browne
30th July 2007, 09:48
Hi,
Thanks for replying Paul.
I sort of figured the Bo would take the 'bad guy' position in any kata.
I wonder if anyone has tested the comparative advantages/disadvantages of the two weapons?
regards
Paul

Sochin
30th July 2007, 17:15
For 1st Dan in Kobudo, our lineage calls for the bo to defend against three attacks by a jo. While the attacks are full speed, they are a set criteria and therefore predictable.

It is useful to bring out one's control of the bo but says nothing about the merrits of fighting with each.

We sometimes use a padded version of each to practice unchoreographed sparring, bo vrs jo, and it is the player who wins, not the weapon.

When under pressure bo users often default to a quarter staff position and give up the one thirds position of the hands of our Japanese style. But if they can keep position and use proper snapping punching techniques instead of "swinging" the bo, they have a good chance of dominating.

paul browne
30th July 2007, 20:06
Hi Ted,
Thank you that was an informative reply.
Interestingly my art uses the staff in 'qauterstaff' mode, lead hand in the centre rear hand about a forearms length from the butt, and slides from end to end during blocking and striking. However we also use a gamae that has it in thirds (horizontally in front of you, chest height) in which case it is used for furi uchi (swinging strikes) but is usually slid through the hands to lengthen the striking end.
I should add my skill with this weapon is very much at the beginner stage.
Regards
Paul

cxt
31st July 2007, 15:41
Paul

Like any question of "what weapon is best" it depends IMO :), almost utterly on the given situation and the relative skills of the users.

At some distance the jo is incapable of even making an attack--and crossing the distance to get within range of the jo would expouse the jo user to dangerous attack.

At closer range, the bo user might, MIGHT be at equally serious disavantage, needing to "choke up" on the bo (as pointed out above by Sochin) or not having room to make best use of the bo.

Either way its a "what if" that depends on just how good each person is with their respective weapon, the actual circumstances of the fight----and a fair helping of luck. :)

IMO that is--as always, could easily be wrong.

paul browne
25th August 2007, 10:37
Hi Chris,
Sorry for the delay in replying.
I pretty much thought the answer would be that, I just wondered whether any art practiced mingling the weapons or whether anyone had experimented and if so what was the outcome.
I seem to recall reading that in Jukendo they sometimes pit the Juken (bayonet on a rifle) against the Tanken (short sword...or more realistically bayonet in hand) and that the advantage often lies with the latter. I believe a similar contest is held in Japanese Taihojutsu (Police arresting art) between Keijo (police four foot staff) and Keibo (truncheon) with similar results. I don't know what this says about the relative merits of the long and short weapons.
Regards
Paul
(sorry for the awful pun:))