bo

[nmy66]

i am looking into starting martial arts. the bo/staff has always interested me. what martial arts teach it? and which would be the best?

[Hatori]

Bo-jutsu is a great place to start or maybe Kubodo which teaches the weapons of tonfa, nunchucks, sai and Bo

[sirdarksol]

Matayoshi Kobudo teaches bo combat. In fact, it starts with bo. However, many Matayoshi schools won't teach those who aren't trained in karate, first. The reason for this is that most of the maneuvers mimic empty-hand maneuvers. Since most schools that teach Matayoshi Kobudo also teach karate, and generally focus on karate, this keeps instructors from having to spend too much of the limited time in kobudo classes simply teaching someone how to strike, and allows them to focus more on polish.

There are other arts that teach bo-jutsu, as well, though I don't know much about them.

Otherwise, many martial arts, like kung fu and karate, do teach bo as part of their curriculum.

[Hatori]

I meant to say, we do bo-jutsu in my Ninjutsu school as well. Bo is a very versitile "tool" so you may find a lot of disciplines will teach it.

[nmy66]

is there a difference between a bo and a long staff? or are they just different names for the same thing?

[Hatori]

I'm not sure but it may depend on the discipline that teaches it. Chinese martial arts have the long staff whereas bo-jutsu is japanese so I think it depends on which one. Some of the wu-shu staff work differs from the bo-jutsu that I've studied.

[sirdarksol]

They're basically the same thing. Different locales may have different specifics regarding their staves (for example, the quarterstaff in Europe was much thicker than the bo, and many wushu staves are made of a more flexible wood), though.