Starting an Aikido Bow Staff Form

Series Summary

Aikido, the modern Japanese martial art, was developed between the 1920s and 1960s and emphasizes the spiritual and philosophical development of its students. This development of spirituality and philosophical belief is directly derived from Shinto and Buddhism. The name “aikido” comes directly from three Japanese characters that stand for “matching,” “spirit,” and “way.” Aikido is meant to distract or immobilize, not kill or permanently damage the attacker. Aikido fighters are thus demonstrating an effective but merciful response. Ueshiba (the Great Teacher of Aikido) declared “To control aggression without inflicting injury is the Art of Peace.”

In this series of videos, see an expert demonstrate aikido moves, strikes, throws, and many other techniques with a wooden bow staff. Practice with an expert as he shows you how to do each step in a series. Take it a step further and learn it at a faster pace. Then, challenge yourself and learn more and more moves in the sequence. After all these steps are fused into your brain and your body there will be no one you can't disarm and defeat.

Video Transcript

"We're going to look at Jo Gi now, Jo forms for Aikido. These forms are specific to our dojo, very similar to other styles out there. Most forms are related, you see a lot of similarities, small variances, the point remains the same. This form is used against multiple attackers, as all of our forms are. And it's going to move almost exclusively from the center. We try to avoid letting the weapon get too far from us. There are a lot of repeated motions in these forms, by design, because they're effective motions. So I'm ski, off the line. I'll repeat that, ski, then off the line. Those are the first two steps in the Jo Gi One. So I have one, off the line, two, off the line. I want this Jo above my head as you can see here with the tip pointed at the throat of my attacker. Off the head, my head is exposed to a blade. Pointed down to the ground, there is no real threat to the attacker. I want to keep it at their throat, keep them in check. Ski, off the line, ski, off the line. That will be our first two motions in Jo Gi One."