Although other accounts of this first duel disagree, according to the oral tradition of Shintō Musō-ryū, Musashi caught Gonnosuke's bō in a two-sword "X" block (jūji-dome; 十字止め).

Gonnosuke's wanderings then brought him to Mount Hōman in Chikuzen (modern-day Fukuoka) where, after a period of purification, meditation, and training, Gonnosuke claimed to have received a divine vision from a small child who told him: "holding a round stick, know the solar plexus" ("maruki wo motte, suigetsu wo shire"「丸木を以って、水月を知れ」).

By shortening the length of the bō from roughly 185 to 128 cm (73 to 50 in) (or, in Japanese measurement units, four shaku, two sun and one bu), he could increase the versatility of the weapon, giving him the ability to use techniques created for the long staff, spear fighting and swordsmanship.

[1] This may be an embellished story of the creation of jōjutsu, as the oral tradition of Shintō Musō-ryū is the only mention of this second duel, or for that matter, a person defeating Musashi in combat.

This branch is further subdivided into a number of different schools which include jōdō or jōjutsu in their curriculum (Shintō Musō-ryū, Suiō-ryū, Tendō-ryū, Hōten-ryū, Kukishin-ryū, Takenouchi-ryū, etc.).