Many years ago I bought a Jo to train with. Which I was really looking forward to, because I had seen some aikido practitioners doing some really cool moves with a Jo, so of course I had to learn that too - I thought.

Unfortunately for me, my karate instructor at the time thought I was too bad with a Jo to learn anything with it. I had to give him credit for that, because I had never tried it before so I couldn't be an expert. So it all resulted in the Jo being placed at home in my entrance hall and it has been there ever since. Or it should, but in all the years I've had to train in Shindenkan, I've always brought all my weapons with me, including the Jo, despite the fact that I've never trained with it in Shindenkan. So my joy was great when the invitation to Jo-jutsu package 1 arrived in the mailbox.

Now I finally had to learn the famous Jo-jutsu techniques I had seen Aikido practitioners do. No, I shouldn't, because I'm well aware that it doesn't work that way in Shindenkan.

In Shindenkan, nothing is accidental, so I knew that the Jo was another tool we could use in our daily training – I was just very excited about which tool. My "old" Jo was dusted off and the joy was enormous when I showed up for the first lesson in Jo-jutsu package 1.

Like all other courses, the Jo-jutsu course was created and developed by Yamana-Itotani Sensei. And as in all other courses, the first part of this course was Ryugi (philosophy). One might wonder how much soup can be cooked on what most people would consider a broomstick. And, dear reader, huge quantities can be cooked.

Consider that something as simple as a wooden stick has a history that goes through all peoples on virtually all continents and has been used for such simple things as a transport tool and at the same time a weapon of self-defense against wild animals and people. It is also incredible to think that it has been glorified through countless movies and boasts of its use in combat where samurai have used it against swords and won. Yes, the stories are many, but how dangerous is this Jo and what can be done with it?

After the ryugi lessons, it was time for Ryuha (technique). Ju-huu now we had to learn to swing the Jo.

No, we shouldn't. As mentioned earlier, the Jo can be used as a tool for daily training and what a tool it is.

"In Shindenkan, great emphasis is placed on all basic techniques being taught and trained as optimally as possible and that the common thread is preserved. This of course also applies to Jo-jutsu. In other words, this means that the basic kihon from Karate-do, Ken-jutsu and kokatchi-jutsu are repeated as building blocks and provide direct training knowledge to the Joen and vice versa."

I found this out the hard way. I knew that through training with Ken and Kotachi I could significantly improve my base, but I was not at all aware that with Jo, I got a tool that directly and very directly told me how my base was. The best thing of all is actually that the more the Jo reveals, the more you get to train on and can improve and the better you become at your base, the more effective the techniques with the Jo become. It is as if it sets off a chain reaction, which is amplified more and more as you train with it and which will eventually result in atomic-sized force discharges.

When the first part of a total of 2 courses was over, I was left with a feeling of having to start a new journey. An improvement journey into basic training that will bring me up to a level that very few people know about and understand. But now words are not enough, action is needed and after the first part I wrote down everything I could possibly remember.

I actually think my fingers were the only place I didn't hurt at the time.

Two weeks later it was time for part no. 2. In the meantime, I had trained a lot to remember the techniques and to improve my basics.

The second part of the course did not feature Ryugi, it was straight on and hard with Ryuha. After the course I was completely blank in my head. Nothing stuck at all. That is I could remember the execution of the techniques, but the names were completely gone. It was as if the blackboard had been washed completely clean and now had to be filled in with something new. But it's damn hard when you can't remember what's supposed to be on the board.

They say that when you are over 40, your memory starts to fail - I just didn't think it had to be that bad. Fortunately, an email appeared a few days later, which must be from Santa Claus (Ed. Kimu Sensei). It contained names of all the techniques which helped a lot with memory.

"Swinging a Jo in imaginative ways, anyone can do with a little practice, but not everyone can use it effectively".

You can actually say that about all techniques, if the foundation is not in place, then you cannot build on top of it. My foundation now has a utility line that, if used correctly, means that houses can be built that can withstand even the worst hurricanes and anything else that might try to attack.

I had to replace my "old" Jo with a new one. It had gradually become so crooked that it was useless to train with. But that's how it is, if you want to build something durable, then the tool has to be in order.