Jikishin-Kai: Shindo Muso-Ryu Jodo

Shindo Muso-Ryu Jo-Jutsu

Jo-jutsu is the art of the short staff. The "Jo" itself is a wooden staff approximately 4 feet long. Like Iai-jutsu, Jo-jutsu traces its roots back to the time feudal Japan and the Samurai warrior class..

Shindo Muso Ryu Jo-Jutsu was created by Muso Gonnosuke, after suffering defeat in a duel against the famed swordsman Miyamoto Musashi.

The art of Jo-jutsu is almost 400 years old and consists of 64 waza (forms) and 12 basic kihon.

The Jikishin-Kai teaches Jo-jutsu as a companion art to Iai-jutsu as both are very complimentary arts and the techniques and applications learned from one are very applicable to the other.

HISTORY OF SHINDO MUSO RYU JODO

If we can believe legends -- and there are more legends than facts concerning these two martial artists -- the only person to beat Miyamoto Musashi in a duel was someone as outlandish and eccentric as he was. And to top it off, he did it with a wooden stick. In doing so, Muso Gunnosuke Katsuyoshi gave birth to a martial arts system that would elevate the humble wooden staff to one of the preeminent weapons of the bugei of Japan.

We know very little that can be verified about the actual life of Muso Gunnosuke, and the little that we do know must be tempered with the knowledge that much of what has been written has been colored and embellished by writers to make for exciting reading.

Gonnosuke studied the Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto-Ryu under Sakurai Ohsumi No Kami Yoshikatsu, then he studied the Kashima Jikishinage-ryu, learning its secret method called the "itchi no tachi". According to legends, Gonnosuke thereupon engaged in various duels throughout Japan to test his skills, never losing any of them until he met Miyamoto Musashi.

The Duel With Musashi and Mount Homan

The first duel with Musashi occurred in Keicho 10 (1605), just five years after the Battle Sekigahara put an end to most internal civil wars and heralded the start of the two-centuries-long Tokugawa peace. There are different versions of the first duel. The first records of such a duel is found in the Kaiji Monogatari, written in 1629. The gist of its version was subsequently in the Jodo Kyoshi. The following is a synopsis of that episode:

There was a heihosha (martial artist) named Miyamoto Musashi. He engaged in duels from the age of 16 and was in about 60 matches. In the sixth month, in Akashi, Harima province, he met Muso Gonnosuke, who was a six foot tall strapping warrior. Gunnosuke was armed with an odachi (long sword), a two layer overcoat with sleeves, and a haori with a large hi no maru (rising sun). On his lapels were written: "The best martial artist in the land" (heiho tenka ichi), and "Nihon Kaizan Muso Gonnosuke."

Gonnosuke was surrounded by about six deshi followers who accompanied him on a journey to Kyushu. He boasted to Musashi that no one was his equal. In his travels, he had apparently encountered Musashi's father, Shinmen Munisai, a master of the jutte (truncheon).

"I have seen your father's techniques, but I haven't seen yours," he said, goading Musashi.

(Shinmen) Miyamoto Genshin Musashi was irritated. He was in the middle of carving a willow branch and replied, "If you saw my father's techniques, I am no different."

Gonnosuke pressed the issue, badgering Musashi to show his martial arts for the benefit of Gonnosuke's students.

"My heiho is not for display," Musashi snapped. "No matter how you attack me, I'll stop it. That's all there is to my heiho. Do what you will, with any technique."

Gonnosuke pulled out a four-shaku wooden sword from a brocade bag. (To draw a comparison, a usual wooden practice sword is but a little longer than two shaku.) He attacked Musashi without any formalities. Musashi stood up from his courch. With what seemed to be very little effort, he forced Gonnosuke back across the tatami mat room with his willow branch and, pressing him against the wall, struck him lightly between the eyebrows.

The description of the duel in the Honcho Bugei Koden is more or less the same as in the Kaijo Monogatari, with some minor differences. In actuality, it is probable that Musashi beat Gonnosuke by using his special two-swords technique (nito), trapping Gonnosuke's weapon in an x-block, or juji dome, with his long and short swords.

Whatever the case may be, Gonnusuke lost the first duel. Mortified, he withdrew to Homangu, part of Kamado Shinto shrine atop Mount Homann in Chikuzen province, (in present-day Dzaifu, Fukuoka Prefecture) Kyushu. For 37 days he meditated and performed rites of austerity. On the last night, while praying in front of an altar, he collapsed and had a divine vision.

In one version, a heavenly child appeared and said,"holding a round log, know the suigetsu (an attack point on the body)."

The cryptic vision compelled Gonnosuke to whittle a short staff about four shaku, two sun and one bu in length (128 cm.). This was longer than the standard tachi long sword of that period, which was three shaku, two sun, and one bu, but shorter than the long rokushaku bo. By taking advantage of the short staff's ability to shift rapidly in the hands of a skilled artists, Gonnosuke was able to beat Musashi in a second duel. It is now unclear how Gonnosuke did that, but the use of the jo in present-day Shindo Muso Ryu practice might give us a hint. If a jo is blocked by jujidome, it is an easy matter to quickly flip the jo out of the block and in the same motion strike a kyusho (weak point) on the swordman's body.

Gonnosuke also created a system of five secret methods (hiden gyo-i) that incorporated all the techniques of his new jo style.

Gonnosuke managed to defeat Musashi without causing him harm. Gonnosuke became martial arts instructor to the Kuroda clan, located in northern Kyushu. Muso Gonnosuke, profoundly changed by his encounter with Musashi and by the divine vision atop Mount Homan, had created a preeminent staff art, the Shindo Muso Ryu jojutsu. The Heavenly Way of Muso's Staff.

The Shinto Muso-ryu
The ryu remained an exclusive art (oteme-waza) of the Kuroda samurai for many generations. The lineage passed through various masters, and around 1965 Shimizu Takaji opened the hombu dojo, concentrating on spreading jo to civilians. In keeping with the changes in orientation, Shimizu decided to change the term jojutso to jodo, the "way" of the jo. Shimizu wanted a formerly combative art to also serve a higher philosophical and spiritual purpose. It is important to note, however, that jodo when properly practiced should reflect its ancient combative roots.

The Shinto Muso-ryu is practiced by various organizations, including the Shindo Muso-ryu Hozon-ai, the Zen Nippon Kendo Renmei (all Japan Kendo Federation) Jodo-bu (Jodo Section) and the Nippon Kobudo Jikishin-Kai. The Kendo Federation's version is slightly different due to the influence of modern kendo technique.