Sanjakubo

三尺棒

Sanjakubo (or 三尺棒 in Japanese), also spelled as Sanshakubo, is a staff ( 棒 ; bō) with the size of three ( 三 ; san) lengths of a foot ( 尺 ; shaku), while a shaku or Japanese foot is approximately 30.3 centimeters or 11.9 inches long (standardized as 10/33 meter). The Ryukyu Kobujutsu Bo Kata performed with this semi bō (as the standard bō has the length of six shaku, and is therefore also known as the rokushokubō) bears the same name as this half-sized staff (with the length of 90.9 centimeters or 35.7 inches). When performed with a rokushokubō, this Ryukyu Kobujutsu Bo Kata is known as the Tsukenbo kata. In the video embedded below (recorded on 18 December 2023), budoka Johan Oldenkamp, a former national champion from the Netherlands, performs this Sanjakubo Kata.