The yawara (also called pasak or dulodulo in Filipino martial arts) is a Japanese weapon used in various martial arts.

The Yawara originated from the use of Kongou, a Buddhist symbolic object, by various monks during Feudal Japan. The Yawara takes the form of one or two small, thick sticks which stick out about an inch from each side of the hand. They are usually used in pairs to initiate throws, bone breaks, and pressure point strikes.

The yawara stick was popularized for police officers in the 1940s by Professor Frank A. Matsuyama. Matsuyama also made his own lethal version in 1937 or earlier.

In the United States, yawaras are not intrinsically illegal in every jurisdiction. In the United Kingdom, "any article made or adapted for use for causing injury to the person, or intended by the person having it with him for such use" is defined as an offensive weapon under the Prevention of Crime Act 1953 thus potentially including a yawara stick.

Yawarajutsu is a martial art focusing on the yawara. It is sometimes simply referred to as yawara, and this name has been used interchangeably with jujutsu. There are similarities in the kanji for yawara (柔) and jujutsu (柔術). The yawari, tessen (iron fan), and short stick are used to apply yawara or jujutsu techniques. The yawara movements are believed to have been derived from the sheathed knife techniques of tantojutsu.

A dojo (道場, dōjō^?) is a Japanese term which literally means "place of the way". Initially, dōjōs were adjunct to temples. The term can refer to a formal training place for any of the Japanese do arts but typically it is considered the formal gathering place for students of any Japanese martial arts style to conduct training, examinations and other related encounters.

The concept of a dōjō as a martial arts training place is a Western concept; in Japan,^{[citation needed]} any physical training facility, including professional wrestling schools, may be called dōjō because of its close martial arts roots.

A proper Japanese martial arts dōjō is considered special and is well cared for by its users. Shoes are not worn in a dōjō. In many styles it is traditional to conduct a ritual cleaning (sōji) of the dōjō at the beginning and/or end of each training session. Besides the obvious hygienic benefits of regular cleaning it also serves to reinforce the fact that dōjō are supposed to be supported and managed by the student body, not the school's instructional staff. This attitude has become lost in many modern dōjō that are founded and run by a small group of people or instructors.^{[citation needed]} In fact, it is not uncommon that in traditional schools (koryu), dōjō are rarely used for training at all, instead being reserved for more symbolic or formal occasions. The actual training is conducted typically outdoors or in a less formal area.