O-Sensei, the founder of Aikido, was skillful with both sword and
staff, frequently demonstrating the same movements to be effective
even while empty-handed. Aiki-weapons are taught as shown by Saito
Sensei. Characteristics of Aiki-weapons are the bigger movements used
to teach hip rotation and body movement, moving off the line of attack,
as well as ki extension.
Tetsutaka
Sugawara Sensei developed his partner practices to introduce movements
found in the Katori style of weapons, which are very different than
Aiki-weapons. The movements are much faster and much more direct when
compared to Aiki-weapons. These katas teach the basic principals of
Katori style weaponry. There are 8 kumi-jo (bokken v. jo) and 5 jo-ai
(jo v. jo) practices. Video of these weapons katas can be viewed on
the Weapons
page on the Santa
Rosa Aikido website
The first four katas in the kumi-jo are practiced as if wearing armor.
The strikes are harder and target weak points in the armor that would
be worn by a warrior swordsman. The second four (5-8) are practiced
as if without armor and are softer, closer and even faster than the
first four. There are five jo-ai katas, which are practiced with the
same distance and speed of the 5-8 katas of the kumijo.
Learning these katas not only provides a foundation for Katori training,
but is required before a student may be invited to train Katori. Learning
Sugawara Sensei's kumi-jo and jo-ai also allows the instructor to
gauge the character of an individual, which is the basis for admission
into the advanced weapons style of Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu.
