Weapon training is an integral part of the curriculum at Brooklyn Aikikai. By working with weapons such as the wooden staff and sword (jyo and bokken in Japanese) one can feel the weight, balance, stance, timing, and distance of one's body movement, oftentimes more easily than without them.

"The sword and jyo are extensions of your body and must be handled as if they have your blood running through them," writes the late master Kisshomaru Ueshiba in his book, Aikido. "Unless you can make the weapons part of your body, you have not truly trained in Aikido."