Aiki-Weapons Practices

Suburi and Kata

The most commonly practiced weapons forms in Aikido are the suburi and kata taught by Morihiro Saito Sensei, 9th dan. These are formalizations of practices taught by the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, to Saito Sensei and other students at the Iwama Dojo. We practice the 7 sword suburi, 20 jo suburi, and the 31 and 13 count jo katas from this system.

Kumijo and Jo Tai Jo

The partner practices that the Aiki Weapons club does were developed by Tetsutaka Sugawara Sensei, who was a student of both Ueshiba Sensei and Saito Sensei. He currently holds the rank of 7th dan in Aikido, and has a Kyoshi (teaching license) in the Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu, Japan's oldest martial school. He developed a series of 8 bokken against jo partner practices (kumijo) and 5 jo against jo (jo tai jo) practices. These combine elements of both Saito's weapons and the sword and staff movements of the Katori Shinto Ryu.

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