Staff

[Sho-ju]

Which length do you prefer to use? I like a shorter staff of 5'. Just wondering.

[SaiFightsMS]

My preference is 5 1/2 feet.

[DLopez]

I use a 6' one. I don't know if there are 'official' sizes, but we tailor them to the person's height, so a shorter person would use a shorter staff.

 

This is because of the way we spin them, but after a while of non-stop spinning, I begin to notice how friggen heavy my staff has gotten more than how long it is.

[Draven Chen Zhen]

5-10 cm taller then my own length so like 1,90 - 2m

[Shorinryu Sensei]

Traditionally, in the Okinawan culture anyway, the "staff' (aka bo) should bethe same height as you are. In my case, I'm 6'6" (198cm) tall, but I still use a 6' bo for several reasons. 1. I haven't ever seen a bo longer than 6' for sale, and 2. any loinger than 6' long would cause numerous bangings to the top of my dojo ceiling! As it is, I had to place tongue nd groove boards on it as the sheetrock was starting to look pretty "frazzled" between frequent contacts with the bo and the nunchaku smacking it all the time.

 

Also, a 5' long "staff" is a called a jo. Unless of course, you stand 5' tall yourself? then yes, I suppose a 5' "staff" would be your bo.

 

I believe some of the Chinese systems have "staff's" as long as 10'.

[Sho-ju]

I always thought a jo was 4'.

[Disciple]

My staffs are short, mostly b/c I had them from when I was younger, but I have one piece of bamboo that is 6' (just slightly shorter than I) That i use for both bo and spear.

 

The Bo is your height

 

The Jo is the height of about your belly button

 

The Spear is your bo height with a spear head on top, maybe a lil longer.

[Ryan gry]

I've been training with the 6'foot staff for 5 years ,And it works very well for me.

[aefibird]

I train with a Jo staff in Aikido - mine is 4 foot.

 

I've also been using it to try out Shotokan kata with Jo applications, with some interesting results.

 

I suppose I really should use a Bo staff, but seen as I don't own one....