Jo & bokken in Tomiki Aikido

Using jo & bokken in Tomiki Aikido is only a small part of the syllabus and most of the techniques can be found in koryu no kata dai san & dai roku.

Tachi dori – defending against sword attacks
Jo dori – defending against trusting with the jo
Jo no tsukai – using the jo against an unarmed attacker
Tachi tai tachi – basics of sword fighting

When reading the biography of Kenji Tomiki and Hideo Ohba, there are references to sword and other weapons schools. Some of those references are from the time when Kenji Tomiki and Hideo Ohba were in Manchuria, Both were exposed to military martial arts especially sword, spear, bayonet and short sword and the influence of this exposure can be seen in koryu no kata dai san.
Hideo Ohba was a skilful swordsman and studied intensively halberd (naginata). There are some stories of Hideo Ohba when he was facing swordsmen with a naginata.
Koryu no kata is in fact the work of Hideo Ohba and his close students. The manipulation of the sword is mostly influenced by the Kendo Renmei technical syllabus. Although Kenji Tomiki did some sword work when he was a student of Morihei Ueshiba, but most of the influence in sword came from Ohba.
In Koryu no kata the yari or juken is replaced by the jo, but of course the length of the jo is not fixed like the jo of the Shindo Muso Ryu jojutsu or Kendo Renmei Jodo. The origin of the jo-techniques can be found in the use of yari (spear) and juken (bayonet).

Aikiken/Aikijo system promoted largery by Morihiro Saito (Aikikai)), is different from Ohba’s method.

Aikiken/Aikijo has some influence on Tetsuro Nariyama (Osaka Shodokan Dojo) and was taught by the late Hirokazu Kobayashi (Osaka Aikikai) a friend of Kenji Tomiki.

Which method you use depends on the educational line you are following.
But don’t make the mistake to mix up different systems.

How to start with bokken

Using the sword during training is done in a “kata” setting. Koryu no kata dai san and dai roku have such techniques for study and training. Focusing your mind on the correct performance is one of the most important elements. Don’t forget “bokken” is a weapon and can be harmful for people. It can eventually kill someone.

Using bokken

How to start with jo

Most of the attacks with the jo are thrusting methods similar to the use of spear or bayonet. For this reason, basic kamae is an ideal posture to perform a strong and penetrating thrust to the weak spots of the opponent. Don’t pull back the jo before you thrust, start always from basic kamae.