I have no idea where this post belongs so I put it here. I'm looking for a book that details beginner techniques for bo staff fighting. I can't afford a do jo membership so I need a good book to help me learn. I have no martial arts experience. Does anyone know of a good book that helped them learn the art or that is very popular because of it's quality?

What's your intention of learning the art of fighting with a really long stick? Also, "bo" is the Japanese name for a staff, so calling it a "bo staff'' is redundant.

Also, why the WMA forum?

Try this forum instead for advice on the bo - Karate, Judo, and Jujitsu - Japanese Martial Arts Forum - No BS MMA and Martial Arts (http://www.bullshido.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=103) . If you're interested in European staff fighting techniques as well, people here will be able to recommend some sources.

Let's try this from a Western Martial Arts (or at least western-ish) perspective.

Dwight McLemore has "The Fighting Staff" (http://www.paladin-press.com/product/The_Fighting_Staff/Armed_Self-Defense) (working title was "The Universal Staff") that I know is good stuff (from my own copy).

Terry Brown's "English Martial Arts" (http://www.amazon.com/English-Martial-Arts-Terry-Brown/dp/1898281181) has a section on Quarterstaff in it. I also own a copy of this.

My club's (http://cbd.atspace.com/) Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/CBD-Western-Martial-Arts/147061672002258?v=photos&ref=sgm) has some material on 5' staff that we worked with over the summer (a combination of Hutton's "Cold Steel" (http://www.thehaca.com/pdf/ColdSteel.pdf) Great Stick (http://www.facebook.com/pages/CBD-Western-Martial-Arts/147061672002258?v=photos&ref=sgm#!/album.php?aid=24710&id=147061672002258) and some other material (http://www.facebook.com/pages/CBD-Western-Martial-Arts/147061672002258?v=photos&ref=sgm#!/album.php?aid=28989&id=147061672002258)).

David Lindholm's "The Fighting Quarterstaff" (http://www.amazon.com/Fighting-Quarterstaff-David-Lindholm/dp/1891448366) is said to be good though I don't know from personal experience.

There are also any number of historic texts available online. Everything from the Thomas McCarthy and Allanson-Winn treatments (Victorian era) though Wylde text, portions of Swetnam's manual, portions of Jakob Sutor's manual, and George Silver's generous treatment.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

I have no idea where this post belongs so I put it here. I'm looking for a book that details beginner techniques for bo staff fighting. I can't afford a do jo membership so I need a good book to help me learn. I have no martial arts experience. Does anyone know of a good book that helped them learn the art or that is very popular because of it's quality?

You cannot learn staff fighting from a book. Find a school & speak with the instructor. You may be able to work something out.

I prefer Meyer over Mair for quarter-staff but check out these two:

http://freifechter.com/staff.cfm

Meyer's staff infoformation.

http://paulushectormair.blogspot.com/

A site with various Mair information and I'm sure that includes staff.

You cannot learn staff fighting from a book. Find a school & speak with the instructor. You may be able to work something out.

That's the best way. Guided instruction.

We do a basic Bo Pairs kata. At first sight it looks like straightforward sequential blocking. However, once the basic kata is learned, in which strike to the Temple, Floating/False Ribs, Head, Groin, Elbows, Knees and Ankles, you also begin to appreciate moving the Bo through the Hands to gain Extension/Reach.Touch and Pressure on the Bo also make themselves felt so developing your appreciation of the Bo.

We then move on to Walking the Bo to improve understanding and fluency with the 6ft stick.

We also do Okinawan Bo. This is very different. The Bo is held at a Third and a Third. The striking technique incorporate a Push and Pull so generating a lot of Torque into the Strike. This leads to single sets of Blocks, STances and Strikes, which are then incorporated into Okinawan Bo Kata 1 and 2. Also Fixed Kumite which develops into a dynamic Continuous Kumite.

Why to do I mention all this? Well, to hopefully illustrate that the Bo is a versatile instrument/weapon and that without guidance from an instructor to draw out nuance etc from a printed document, it is very difficult to make progress. You certainly won't know when you're going wrong (which is part of any Learning Curve).

Cheers

Hatsumi of Buj (in)fame actually did a very good book called "Stick Fighting" - it's pretty old and has zero ninjerism in it (white gi only and not a tabi in site). The whole thing is based on Kukishin Ryu and has some interesting stuff, worth adding to any TMA book collection. On Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Stick-Fighting-Techniques-Self-Defense-Bushido/dp/0870114751)

But yeah, learning weapons techniques without an instructor is not a good idea.

I prefer Meyer to Mair too, but I feel that the Polearms of Paulus Hector Mair can be used in a complimentary fashion to Meyer's quarterstaff section.

David Lindholm's Fighting with the Quarterstaff is an excellent book for quarterstaff beginner's and is comparable to a survey course of the historical literature of English and German staff fighting techniques, except for Mair.

hroarr.com is also a great resource for polearm information.

I have no idea where this post belongs so I put it here. I'm looking for a book that details beginner techniques for bo staff fighting. I can't afford a do jo membership so I need a good book to help me learn. I have no martial arts experience. Does anyone know of a good book that helped them learn the art or that is very popular because of it's quality?

You're a fucking moron.

You're a fucking moron.

I shoulda said that.

Except I would have called him an idiot.

What's your intention of learning the art of fighting with a really long stick? Also, "bo" is the Japanese name for a staff, so calling it a "bo staff'' is redundant.

Also, why the WMA forum?

What he said.

Hey, maybe there's a boat load of gangs in his area, and there's one that will only ask him to join if he's pretty good with a bo staff.

Between this and the "How do you tell if you're good ..." thread, I reckon a sticky post on "What are WMA?" would be a good thing. IIRC I wrote one way back when this subforum was first created; I can drag it out again if a mod. can offer to fix it in place.

For some reason I thought you were the mod here. Is there one for this forum?

I was kind of instrumental in getting this forum under way, but AFAIK it doesn't have an official moderator.