Home page of Aikijo, (Aiki Jo, Aiki-Jo), harmony of spirit with Jo, the Japanese short staff, extracted from the art of Aikido and taught in Bideford, North Devon.

Aiki weapons have been an integral part of Aikido from the beginning.
From January 2012 the Aiki Ken will also be part of our regular training in our North Devon class.

Want to improve your understanding of Aikido and Aiki weapons? Looking for a reasonably priced class with a qualified and experienced teacher?   .... you are in the right place, now it is up to you.

The following pages serve to reinforce an understanding of Aiki weapons and give purpose to teaching them  as a seperate art.

 Once you realise 'why' you will find the 'how'. 

Using technique and methods handed down by the late Saito Sensei 9th Dan to my teacher, Sensei Tony Sargeant 6th Dan Aikikai and Principal of TIA Europe, and whom I commend as an intuitive and inspirational teacher. 

My teaching is also coloured by several years of Tai Chi study from which I have brought some interesting and useful mind and body principles into Jo training and practice.

                                                                      
The Bideford class ( 'Aiki Jo Bideford' ) could interest  any Aikido student or other Martial artist that uses the short staff or Jo.          
 It can also be enjoyed by those with no previous experience. 
Aiki Jo could be used as an exercise system, improving confidence, co-ordination, balance and power, or even engaging in a pathway to moving meditation. 
                                                                         You can find in it what you will, it will depend on how much you seek. 
    We were all beginners once ... and still stay students to the end of our days. Aiki weapons are there to change your body and mind for the better ..... not to 'fight with sticks'.

The founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, used the Jo as preparation against and possibly inspired by, bayonet and spear applications, but  it also provided a means to co-ordinate body timing and power, as well as engage in the universal energies..

O’Sensei had a student called Morihiro Saito, he was a regular and loyal student for the last 23 years of O’Sensei’s life, he looked after him in his old age, he taught for O’Sensei at the Iwama Dojo, the home of Aikido.

  Saito Sensei was graded 9th Dan and given the job of developing Jo into a teaching system. O’Sensei’s Jo practice was too extensive even for Saito to remember, but he did his best to adhere to his teacher’s principles, and be true to the art.

 
  My own teacher, Tony Sargeant 6th Dan was a long term student of Saito Sensei, and is still true to his late Sensei's teachings and his style of Aikido emphasises the part of weapons more than other styles.

I have followed Tony Sargeant since the mid 1980s and hold him in the highest regard for his skills and generosity of teaching.

I will do my very best not to let them down and to move both yours and my skills forward.

Come and find out what is possible;   You will  always find a welcome, in the spirit of aiki I hope that you will find this site of some interest .

Sensei Richard Small, 3rd Dan TIA Europe

*************************************************************************************************
Slide show below features my Sensei, Tony Sargeant 6th Dan Aikiki in some early morning sunshine on
Kefalonia and teaching a Jo class on 13 Kata partner practice.

                                                             Sensei Pat Hendricks from USA at the Howard Mallet Club in Cambridge UK  ..... many, many years ago.