What is the history of Jodo?
It was founded in the early 17th century (about 1605) by Muso Gonnosuke Katsuyoshi, an exponent of Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto-ryu. Shinto Muso-ryu oral tradition maintains that Gonnosuke once fought Miyamoto Musashi, one of the most famous swordsmen of the time, with a staff (bo) in a training match and was defeated by Musashis cross-block (jujidome) technique. According to legend, Gonnosuke was dissatisfied with this outcome and retired to Mt. Homan, in what is now Fukuoka Prefecture, in Kyushu, where he engaged in a series of religious austerities, all the while contemplating the reasons for his defeat. Finally, he received “divine” inspiration about a new method of using a staff-like weapon, making it shorter (50 1/4″) and thinner (7/8″) for more rapid manipulation. He devised a number of techniques for this new weapon, which he called a stick (jo) (as opposed to staff or bo), that included the use of the thrust (tsuki) of a spear, strike (utsu) of a sword and staff and sweep (har
