Shindo Muso Ryu Jodo

Shindo Muso Ryu Jodo is a classical martial art created in the seventeenth century by Muso Gonnosuke. It teaches the use of the jo, a staff about four feet long, to defeat a sword-wielding attacker. Jodo practice involves doing kata in pairs, with the senior student attacking with a wooden sword and the junior student stopping the attack with their jo. Jodo practice also includes a set of twelve basic techniques to teach the fundamental movements that are applied in kata.

Jodo includes techniques for striking, thrusting, blocking, pinning, and parrying at long and close ranges. This versatility allows options for more or less damaging techniques to end a conflict with a minimum of harm done. This makes it possible to defeat a swordsman with command presence rather than by maiming or killing. Jodo has been studied by elite Japanese police from the seventeenth century to the modern Tokyo Metropolitan Police for this reason.

Shindo Muso Ryu Jodo is an expansive and deep art with a curriculum of 74 kata, and traditionally includes practice in other weapons such as the sword, jutte, and kusarigama. New students will begin jojutsu training in the Tokushu Waza (Suigetsu, Shamen, and Uchiotoshi) and the Omote Waza (Tachiotoshi, Tsubawari, Tsukizue, Hissage, Sakan, Ukan, Kasumi, Monomi, Kasa no shita, Ichirei, Neya no uchi, and Hosomichi). Students will also enter the sword techniques of Shinto Kasumi Ryu Kenjutsu and the short walking stick techniques of Uchida Ryu Tanjojutsu.