Switzerland
Origin
Musō Gonnosuke Katsuyoshi was an experienced martial artist when he met Miyamoto Musashi in Edo around 1605 and lost. According to tradition he withdrew to Mount Hōman in Kyūshū, practised austerities and received the instruction in a dream: "Hold the stick and know the weak point of the opponent."
What he then developed was not a variant of the Bō. The Jō, at around 128 centimetres, is shorter than the staff and longer than the sword — exactly in that intermediate distance in which a swordsman misjudges his reach. The Jō can strike, thrust, lever and be handled like a sword, and it changes between these roles in mid-movement.
Gonnosuke is said to have met Musashi a second time. That time, so it is told, he did not lose.
What is trained
The core consists of 12 Kihon and 64 Kata, throughout Jō against sword. There are no solo forms in the proper sense and no competition: Jōdō is partner work from beginning to end, in which both roles — Shidachi with the Jō, Uchidachi with the Bokutō — are practised equally. Anyone who wants to learn the Jō has to understand the sword.
The Ryūha includes the associated arts (heiden), which were taken in over the course of time:
- Shintō-ryū Kenjutsu — the sword
- Uchida-ryū Tanjōjutsu — the short walking stick
- Ikkaku-ryū Juttejutsu — the forked iron truncheon of the Edo police
- Isshin-ryū Kusarigamajutsu — chain and sickle
- Ittatsu-ryū Hojōjutsu — the art of binding
The Swiss root
European Jōdō begins in Geneva. Pascal Krieger went to Japan in 1969, trained with Shimizu Takaji, the formative teacher of modern Shintō Musō-ryū, and with Donn Draeger, and received the Menkyo Kaiden — the complete transmission of the Ryūha.
In 1976 he returned to Switzerland, and in 1979 he founded the Fédération Européenne de Jōdō. In 2008 he received the Order of the Rising Sun for his services to Japanese culture.
That is why the density of Jōdō Dōjō in French-speaking Switzerland is exceptionally high — and why to this day several holders of the Menkyo Kaiden live between Lake Geneva and Fribourg.
Where training takes place
The Swiss Dōjō are recorded in full by the Fédération Européenne de Jōdō. Its list is always more current than one here could be — which is why koryu.ch points to it.