Jodo - Kaze Uta Budo Kai

“The Way of the Stick”

Jodo is a little known Japanese martial art centered primarily around the use of a short staff, called a jo, particularly as it is applied in the defense against the Japanese swordsman. The classical form of the art, Shinto Muso Ryu Jodo, consists of 64 kata, divided into sets, each with a different character.

In 1968, the 25th headmaster of the school, Shimizu Takaji, developed a more compact form of the art, called Zen Ken Renmei Seitei Jodo, or Seitei Jodo for short, aimed at teaching kendo students and modern police forces.

Kaze Uta Budo Kai focuses primarily on a specialized, kuzushi-oriented interpretation of Seitei Jodo, which consists of 12 kata (ten which Shimizu took from the three first series of SMR kata seen to best represent the art, plus two other kata created specifically for the new system), and 12 basic techniques or kihon.