Blue Belt — Weapons: Jo and Bokken Basics — Aikido — Hobika

Introduction to the jo (staff) and bokken (wooden sword) that inform Aikido's movement.

## Blue Belt — Weapons: Jo and Bokken Basics

O-Sensei trained extensively in kenjutsu (sword) and jojutsu (staff). The weapons are not separate from aikido — they reveal the distances, angles, and movements of empty-hand technique.

### Bokken (Wooden Sword)
Basic cuts:
- Shomen-uchi: vertical overhead cut to the centre.
- Yokomen-uchi: diagonal cut to the side of the head.
- Tsuki: thrust to the throat or chest.

Solo suburi (cutting practice):
Repeat each cut 20 times, focusing on:
- Cutting from the hips, not the arms.
- Full extension at the end of each cut.
- Returning the weapon to kamae (guard) before the next cut.

### Jo (Short Staff, ~128cm)
Thirteen-count suburi:
A solo kata with 13 movements combining thrusts, strikes, and sweeps. Learn movements 1–7 at this stage.

### Taijutsu Connection
Every bokken cut corresponds to an empty-hand attack:
- Shomen-uchi (sword) → shomen-uchi (hand strike)
- Yokomen-uchi (sword) → yokomen-uchi (strike)

When you practise the sword cut, you train the exact same movement used in nikyo and sankyo. The weapon makes the movement visible.