The weapons used in aikido consist of a wooden sword, a short staff and a knife. Within the martial art they are known as a bokken, a jo and a tanto. These training knives and other training weapons have been used aikido training since it was first developed and introduced in the 1920s. The developer of the art, Morihei Ueshiba wanted to create a fighting form where the attacker’s momentum could be turned against them. The concept of aikido is somewhat like jujitsu where the emphasis is placed on defense and not offense. In training, the focus is not on teaching the practitioner on how to attack with the three weapons but on how to defend themselves from them. This form of martial arts is practiced by police officers who are often attacked.
The wooden sword, the bokken, is used in weapons training. It, along with training knives are only used for training purposes, they are quite useless in an actual combat situation. The length of the bokken is around 40 inches, about the same length as a typical katana, a samuri sword or a shinai which is a sword made from bamboo and used in kendo training, another form of martial arts. A bokken is made from a variety of different woods, all hardwoods. Favorite woods are hickory, oak and jatoba.
Another staple of aikido training is the jo. The jo is a short staff, the overall length of which depends on the practitioner when standing straight up. The jo should idelly come just into the arm pit of the user when placed on the floor. The jo is also made from various hardwoods.
The third weapon used in classical aikido is the knife or tanto. Training knives are usually made from wood, plastic or hard rubber, all with a blade length of about 13 inches. Knife training focuses on disarming the individual who is attacking with a knife, a very important skill for law enforcement personnel. This particular skill is called taijitsu and is equally useful when taking a handgun from a criminal in close quarter combat.
Aikido weapons’ training is when the practitioner is taught to use the momentum of the attacker to his advantage; the art is practiced with slow deliberate motions and open hand movements rather than an offensive mode of fighting.
All sorts of training knives are available online from Safety Basement. As well as training knives, Safety Basement has a range of foam training numchaku.
