The Bo is a six-foot long staff, sometimes tapered at either end, has been used by many cultures throughout the world as a weapon of defence.
The bo is considered the 'king' of the Okinawa weapons, as all other weapons exploit its weaknesses in fighting it.
The bo is the earliest of all Okinawan weapons and effectively one of the earliest of all weapons in the form of a basic staff, In Japan it is traditionally made from red or white oak.
In China it is typically made from a more flexible material like Rattan.
Okinawan kobudo was at its peak some 100 years ago, all the authentic Okinawan kobudo kata practiced at this time, only relatively few, by comparison, remain.
In the early 20th century, a decline in the study of Ryukyu kobujutsu meant that the future of this martial tradition was in danger.
During the Taisho period (1912–1926) some martial arts exponents such as Yabiku Moden made great progress in securing the future of Ryukyu kobujutsu.
Many of the forms that are still known are due to the efforts of Taira Shinken who travelled around the Ryukyu Islands in the early part of the 20th century and compiled 42 existing kata,
covering various types of Okinawan weapons.
One of the most practiced Bo Kata is known as the Sakugawa Bo Kata,
the actual names of these kata typically originate from the province in which it was first developed and often in the name of the master to whom first developed it,
a common practice in most traditional Martial Arts schools, where it was thought of the way a master could pass on his own unique development of each discipline.
The practice of the Bo is often used as a weapon to complement the practice of other martial arts disciplines such as with Aikido, Jujitsu and of course Karate.
In Yoseikan Karate Kyokai we currently practice just 7 Bo Kata, all of which will be covered in a future post.