This video shows a practice I call “the sticking game.” It is designed to give the jo player experience in “feeling” what the sword is doing. We use kuritsuke, tai atari, and kurihanashi as exercises for developing a jo that is able to appropriately respond to the sword’s movement. Underlying the game we play is an assumption that sword is neither neutral/passive, as is usually the case when people are doing kata, nor is the sword resisting and trying to crush through or refuse to move. Instead, this exercise is built off a sword that tries to reset from the jo’s block to cut the next most obvious target. For jo to effectively counter the tachi’s movement, they cannot rely on their eyes alone, but should feel the sword’s movement and react to pin, push, or throw the sword before they can reset and cut.
I want to emphasize that I only do this exercise with experienced students as it can be a little dangerous. Do not do this on your own, particularly the “eyes closed” portion of the exercise, unless you have many years of experience.