10 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
Good for children and beginners
Date of Review: Jan 21, 2008
The Bottom Line: If the practitioner is a smaller child, then this weapon can work as a bo. For adult beginners, this can be a usable jo for light work.
A Jo staff is typically a 1" diameter, 4' long piece of hardwood, although in some cases, it can be up to 5' long.
In this particular case, the jo staves that are being linked to in the advertisement, are made of 4' long, 1" diameter North American red oak wood.
For smaller children, these Jo staves can actually work well as a substitute for a regular Bo staff, which is usually closer to 6' tall. The smaller length allows the children to work bo training techniques without having to modify the technique at all, since the weapon is of correct length for them.
For adults, this jo staff works fine for kata practice, as well as non-contact kihon (technique) practice. It's light, insubstantial, and easy to use, since North American red oak wood is a very porous wood.
However, the porousity of the wood becomes a weakness in more advanced training. By the time someone has gained enough proficiency to perform the more advanced jo techniques, the light weight of this particular jo is unsuitable, since the practitioner is unable to get good leverage from such a weapon.
At the more advanced stages of kobudo (weapons) training, the practitioner is going to be engaging in weapon on weapon contact drills. The porous nature of the red oak wood makes such a weapon unsuitable for these drills, since the wood will crack or splinter, after just light to moderate work. When the weapon splinters, you usually end up with sharp points at the break, and this can certainly pose a problem.
This is not a weapon that is going to be kept throughout the years, since red oak, when cut into a rod this thin, will usually be quite prone to warping. Again, not too much of a problem for a beginner, but when a student becomes more advanced, the imbalanced weapon interferes with the finer techniques.
In the end, this weapon is better suited for children or beginners who cannot yet benefit from a higher quality weapon. Advanced students will want to get something better that has a bit more weight, and can hold up to weapons contact.
