Staves
Hanbō
半棒
The short “half-staff”.
Form and name
Hanbō means half-staff and is also called sanshakubō: a three-shaku staff, approximately 90 cm long. It is one of the staff types found in Bujinkan.
Read more: terms and context
Hanbō → hanbōjutsu
Hanbō names the short staff; hanbōjutsu names the art practised with it.
Source for the word jutsu: Kanjipedia
Tradition and context
Hatsumi and Chambers present staff work from Kukishin-ryū in Stick Fighting. Hanbō offers a different starting point from the long staff.
Sources and further reading
Further reading: Hatsumi’s staff work
Practitioner sources describe the tradition’s practice and terminology. They are not used alone as evidence for early historical claims.