TRADITIONAL WEAPONS
Jodo: The Way of the Jo Staff
Jodo is a koryu bujutsu, a classical Japanese martial art, founded around 1605. It pits a roughly fifty-inch staff against a sword, using the staff's versatility and longer reach to control and subdue an attacker.
INSTRUCTOR
Harvey King
Harvey began Aikido in 1981 at Aikido of Park Slope under Hal Lehrman Sensei, a direct student of Yoshimitsu Yamada Sensei, chief instructor of the New York Aikikai. In 1983 he began studying traditional weapons to complement his Aikido. He trained at the Japanese Swordsmanship Society, where he encountered Shindo Muso Ryu Jodo, and went on to study under David Pearl Sensei, then traveled to Japan in 1986 to train under Shigehiro Matsumura Sensei, head of the Kobukan Dojo in Tokyo, who accepted Harvey as his deshi. He returns to Japan to train regularly.
Harvey has long enjoyed both training in and teaching Jodo. He finds it vastly improves one's sense of timing and distance, skills that directly benefit Aikido. As one progresses, Jodo emphasizes moving in a completely relaxed but active state, free of tension yet able to instantly respond and adjust. That is a benefit to any martial artist.