Shindo Muso Ryu Jodo
Jodo has historically been taught using kata, and is still taught that way today. The typical order for teaching the kata follows a series of sets: omote, chudan, ranai, kage, samidare, gohon no midare, okuden. Each set has its distinctive pacing or representative movements, and each a distinct purpose in a jo player’s development. There are also five gokui, hidden kata taught only to those who are to receive menkyo (to learn all five from your teacher signifies arriving at menkyo kaiden or complete transmission of the art).
Finally, there are three police kata commonly taught by senior teachers though they are not technically in the SMR Ryu curriculum. Two of them were included in the ZNKR dan test set (shamen and suigetsu) that was proposed by Shimizu Sensei and adopted by the All Japan Kendo Federation.
There is a lot of discussion in martial arts circles about the efficacy of kata as a way of preparing a person for actual combat. However, SMR has survived 400 years of on-the-street tests. The kata that have been developed reflect hard lessons learned over time, and prepare a jo player to respond intuitively to a swordsman’s attack--whatever the attack. Developing that kind of intuitive mastery of yourself, whatever the situation, is something we all strive for through our training. The lessons of jodo apply in many other life situations.
(left) Sato Sensei and Corey Comstock; (r) Carlberg Sensei of Sweden
Photos courtesy of Valerie Mathews, Nettie Legters, Ray Sosnowski, Scott Rakow, and members of the Nihon Jodokai.
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