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my first sensei would admonish us---as have several since---that when we are holding a bokken we are practicing empty handed techniques, and when we are empty handed we are practicing weapons. i suppose there could be folks who have wonderful Aikido but can't hold a bokken, but i have trouble picturing them. they are so much one and the same, i can't see how it could exist.
i like the bokken for what it shows me about direction of foot movement and movement of hips (i heard a brown belt exclaim today he never knew why yokomen was done off the center line)... and the jo for making all those spiral movements big enough for even a beginner like me to see..
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