A jō (杖) is an approximately 1.27-metre (4.2 ft) wooden staff, used in some Japanese martial arts. The martial art of wielding the jō is called jōjutsu or jōdō. Also, aiki-jō is a set of techniques in aikido which uses the jō to illustrate aikido's principles with a weapon. The jō staff is shorter than the six-foot rokushakubō. Today, the jō is still used by some Japanese police forces.
A bō (棒) (pong (Korean); pang (Cantonese); bang (Mandarin); kun (Okinawan)) is a staff weapon used in Okinawa. Rokushakubō are typically around 1.8 m (71 in) long and used in Okinawan martial arts and Japanese arts such as bōjutsu. Other staff-related weapons are the jō, which does not have a standard length, and the hanbō (half bō), which is 90 cm (35 in) long.
Stick-fighting, stickfighting, or stick fighting, is a variety of martial arts which use blunt, hand-held "sticks" for fighting, most typically a simple, non-lethal, wooden staff or baton. Schools of stick-fighting exist for a variety of weapons, including gun staffs, bō, jō, bastons,Naboot, and arnis sticks, among others. Cane-fighting is the use of walking sticks as improvised weapons. Some techniques can also be used with a sturdy umbrella or even with a sword or dagger still in its scabbard.
Thicker and/or heavier blunt weapons such as clubs or the mace are outside the scope of stick-fighting (since they cannot be wielded with the necessary precision, relying on the sheer force of impact for stopping power instead), as are more distinctly-shaped weapons such as the taiaha used by the Māori people of New Zealand, and the macuahuitl used by the Aztec people of Mesoamerica in warfare.