Customer Reviews

Jodo-Way of the Stick

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This book is a very low-level introduction to jodo, primarily Shindo Muso Ryu jo. It definitely won't provide good enough instruction to learn any of the basic techniques or kata, and it isn't very comprehensive, only useful for the extreme beginner while they're still in the beginner stages. The book also only covers the forms chosen for the Seitei Jodo set, ignoring the traditional form sets. A much better book would be the book "Jodo: the Way of the Stick" (aka La voie du baton, I think, the book is split into both English and French sections), which provides a much more comprehensive set of explanations, techniques (covers omote, chuden, and ranai: the Seitei forms are miscellaneous kata chosen from these sets), and background on SMR jodo and budo in general.

While I won't recomend this book as a must have, it is good for reviewing what you have been taught by a reputably instructor. It's ok for helping one remember terms and as a rough approximation of the actual Katas. However the pictures show poor posture and little or no actual idea of what is happening in each Kata. Don't bother with this unless you study Jodo. It's too bad that this is the only book available in english.

While the book alone cannot be used to learn Jodo, it is a valuable supplement to training. It helps to refresh one's memory in the early stages of training, and allows one to see a clearer picture of more intricate kata.

Excellent discussion of Jo work in relation to Kendo and by itsel. Very clear illustrations. I've been doing Jo work (Shindo Muso Ryu) for several years, and this is the closest I've found to a definitive text in English.

`Jodo Way of the Stick' is a short, but interesting, introduction to the martial art of Jodo. This has some anecdotes about the authors time in Japan, History of Jodo, information on the Jo and Gi, before covering various techniques and ways of applying them. The techniques are clear to read and there are black and white photos throughout to further clarify the points raised. Ultimately this is best used in conjunction with training with a Sensei at a dedicated Jodo Dojo and this would make a worthy reference book for use before and after classes. This was originally written in 1984 and hence the style is a little dated now, but overall this is a clear and informative look at this art and is worth considering at some point.

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There are a number of technical errors to watch out for in the text and sequencing of pictures. This book is mainly good only for the historical anecdotes.