Is there a special jo length for practising aikijo waza or can anyone of any height use the standard 4.21 shaku jo? Is that the same do SMR jodo also?
Kind regards,
Jeremy
Is there a special jo length for practising aikijo waza or can anyone of any height use the standard 4.21 shaku jo? Is that the same do SMR jodo also?
Kind regards,
Jeremy
Jeremy Hagop
I can't speak for SMR (or other Aikijo systems, for that matter), but in Seiki Ryu I was told by our headmaster that I needed a longer-than-standard jo. I'm 6'5" (195cm) and I made a jo for myself that reached from the ground to my armpit.
With some of our techniques where we slide the job through our hands at full arm's length I'd have dropped a shorter jo with my considerable arm-span. (I did have problems at my home dojo, though, with hitting the ceiling a few times; it was a converted office space with acoustic tile ceilings. Our dojo in the next town south of mine had 18-foot ceilings, and was a much better place for sword and staff work.)
Yours in Budo,
---Brian---
In SMR, they're pretty well standardized on the 4.2.1 jo, Jeremy, although Chambers-sensei has mentioned that there is a longer jo length used in battle which is the armpit-length that Brian quoted. I can't recall the name of that longer jo, but will ask Sensei at our next training session.
Ken
I also have heard that the optimum length is from armpit to ground as well.
Greg
I believe SMR jo uses a standard length, while other systems may or may not adjust the length of the jo according to the practitioner's height.
As for aikijo, it seems that the SMR jo has become the default standard (diameters and weights may vary - I'm dying to get a full sun [approx. 30 mm] diameter jo in the near future), but this is, as I said, default. The original weapons for aikijo were the spear and fixed bayonet.
I once tried some kumijo with a borrowed bo, and found no real difference except in the maai.
Andrew Smallacombe
Aikido Kenshinkai
JKA Tokorozawa
Now trotting over a bridge near you!
Shinto Muso-ryu jo are supposed to be 4-shaku, 2-sun, 1-bu. I would have to measure my Yagyu jo to be sure, but it is around 5-shaku and a bit. Tendo-ryu jo are supposed to be a broken naginata and of a length equal to one's mid-forehead, although nowadays people seem to be using manufactured jo that are a standard length. Chikubujima-ryu jo are, I think, 5-shaku, 5-sun and one that is longer (I do not know the exact length). Or maybe that is Muhi Muteki-ryu? Toda-ha Buko-ryu bo also represent a naginata that has been broken. They can be whatever length and diameter one wishes (mine is made from a naginata of Nitta Sensei's that broke and she gave me permission to cut it down). Anyway, there is nothing approaching a "standard" length for all koryu jojutsu.
Hope this helps.