Muso Gonnosuke
A Japanese swordsman from the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, founder of the Shindo Muso-ryu jojutsu school centered on the jo staff; tradition links him with Miyamoto Musashi.
Quick Facts
JapanBiography
Muso Gonnosuke Katsuyoshi lived at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries; the exact dates of his birth and death we have not been able to verify. He is the founder of the Shindo Muso-ryu jojutsu school, centered on the jo staff about 128 cm long. His school is the predecessor of jodo, today overseen by the Zen Nippon Kendo Renmei.
He received menkyo, a full teaching license, at the Katori Shinto-ryu school. His teacher is named as Sakurai Osumi-no-Kami; sources also mention possible training at the Kashima Shinto-ryu or Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryu schools.
According to tradition, between 1596 and 1614 he was defeated in a duel with Miyamoto Musashi with a single blow. He is said to have then withdrawn into seclusion, where, according to tradition, a divine being in the form of a child guided him to create the jo staff and its techniques. A second duel, in which he is said to have defeated Musashi with the jo staff, is undocumented outside the jojutsu schools, and swordsmanship schools deny that it took place.
The oldest surviving source for this story is the Kaijo Monogatari from 1629–1666. Modern historians question whether the events with Musashi were not exaggerated or later compiled by chroniclers.
Associated Martial Arts
Old Japanese school of fighting with the jo staff, founded by Muso Gonnosuke. Today's jodo of the Zen Nihon Kendo Renmei draws on its kata.
Jodo (Staff Against Sword)Predecessor / teacher→Japanese budo in which a student with a jo staff faces an opponent with a wooden sword. The All Japan Kendo Federation set its present form in 1968, and competition is in kata.