Bo (weapon)

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See Bow (weapon) for the projectile weapon used in archery.

A bo (棒) is a long stick usually made out of wood or bamboo. A full-size bo is also sometimes called rokushakubo (六尺棒). This name derives from the Japanese words roku (meaning "six"), shaku (a Japanese measurement equivalent to 30.3 centimeters, or just under 1 foot) and bo (meaning "wood"). Thus, rokushakubo refers to a staff about 6 shaku (181.8 cm, about 6 ft.) long. Other types of bo range from heavy to light, from rigid to highly flexible, and from simply a piece of wood picked up off the side of the road to ornately decorated works of art.

The martial art of wielding the bo is bojutsu. The basic purpose of the bo is to increase the force delivered in a strike through leverage. A relatively small motion made at the point of contact between the user and the bo results in a much faster, more forceful motion made by the tip of the bo furthest from the user. This enables long-range crushing and sweeping strikes. The bo may also be thrust at an opponent, basically allowing for a punch from long distance. It can also be used for joint-locks, thrustings of the bo that immobilize a target joint, which are used to non-fatally subdue an opponent. The bo is a weapon mainly used for self-defense, and can be used to execute several blocks and parries as well. Martial arts techniques, such as kicks and blocks, are also often combined with the weapon techniques when practicing this martial art to enhance its effectiveness.

There are stick fighting techniques native to just about every country on every continent. The word "bo" is merely the Japanese word for wooden staff weapons.

1 Bo in popular culture
2 See also
3 See also
4 External link

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Bo in popular culture

Donatello, one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, has the bo as his weapon of choice.
The Tim Drake incarnation of Robin, Batman's partner, uses a bo. While the identity of Robin in the Teen Titans animated series is disputed, he uses a bo as well.
In the movie Napoleon Dynamite, Napoleon claims that a lot of school gangs were attempting to recruit him because he is pretty good with a bo staff.
In the sci-fi series Babylon 5, some members of the Minbari race carry a "Minbari Fighting Pike", essentially a bo which is cabable of retracting to about 20 cm long through "molecular compression".
It is the first weapon used by Gabrielle in the TV series Xena: Warrior Princess.
Son Gokou of Dragon Ball and Saiyuki manga and anime wields a bo at times.
In X-Men and its spin-offs, Gambit (Remy LeBeau) fights with a bo.
An alien bounty hunter in the series Megas XLR also wielded a bo capable of collapsing to the size of a coin for ease of carry.
Kilik, a character in the Soul Calibur series, uses the Ling-Sheng Su Rod style in battle.
The weapon of choice for Roman, bass player for Detroit Crunkstar, in the Resistive.net walk-race to Alaska.
A bo called the "Lunar" is an available weapon for the ninja Ryu Hayabusa in the Hurricane Pack and Black Edition versions of the popular Xbox video game, Ninja Gaiden.
In Frank Miller's Sin City graphic novel, To Hell and Back, the assassin Mariah wields a bo staff.
In The Matrix Reloaded, Neo uses a nearby metal pole as a bo to fight the swarm of Smiths