Zen Nihon kendō renmei Jōdō

The art contains twelve forms (kata) and were developed in part by Shimizu Takaji and by a committee tasked with the creation of a compact Jōdō system to be taught mainly in Kendo dojos.

Unlike the original art, Seitei Jōdō holds competitions in which the performance of the uchidachi (sword) and shidachi (jo) is evaluated by a panel of judges giving points for proper execution of techniques.

[4] According to legend, Muso Gonnosuke, the founder of the original art of Shintō Musō-ryū, was inspired to create and use the Jo from a divine vision some time after he was defeated by Miyamoto Musashi in a duel.

The jo, like its larger sibling the Bō (long staff), was never an effective weapon on the battlefield in comparison to the sword, spear and bow just to name a few.

One of the most famous promoter of the jo outside of Shinto Muso-ryu in modern times, and indeed in the martial arts community as a whole, was the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba.

Every training sequence (kata) starts with the swordsman, called Uchidachi, attacking the defender (shidachi), who in turn defeats his opponent.

Unlike the main Shintō Musō-ryū system, Seitei Jodo does not hold any kata that uses the kodachi (short sword) and it is not used during training.

In the majority of dojos today, the jodoka essentially uses the same clothing as practitioners of kendo, minus the armour and other protective padding: A blue/indigo uwagi (jacket), an obi (belt, often the same type as used in iaido), a blue or black hakama (wide trousers used by samurai).