AJB bamboo doh - review

I fulfilled myself a long time dream by buying a beautiful bamboo do.

Yes, take do. The pinnacle of kendo gear dreams (affordable dreams, don't even think about same do...).

What do we got:

-60 slate bamboo do-dai

-kiji do-dai covered with a thin layer of ki-urushi lacquer.

-almost plain mune with a thin stripe of same (yes, a little bit of fanciness had to be obtained)

All Japan Pitch guardian kote - review

Let's start with a keen statement:

They are simply the best pair of kote I've ever owned.

Yes they are.

Guardian, a name that promises protection.

A promise you won't be disappointed from.

The guardian series are advertised as having extra protection compared to standard kote.

They are in first place designed for those  who often act as motodachi or are mainly on the receiving side.

What do we have:

-full shoaizome orizashi construction

-10mm All Japan Pitch Stitching 

-genuine smoked deer skin tenouchi 

don´t compare grades

There is a question that I mostly dislike asking and getting ask.

"What is your grade?"

Well, actually one should assume that ikkyu, shodan, nidan... around the world could be compared directly with each other.

In my opinion this only counts for rokudan and nanadan (we won't talk about way superior hachidan here).

why take doh is better....(yes, it is)

Alright,

Don't we all truly fancy for a genuine bamboo do?

I allways did and due to the holy and glory times of modern interwebs, the prices for take do dropped from tremendous expensive to at least "affordable".

Except for same do, those thingies still want to be paid with 2000€ and more, wow....

Anyway, after scraping up some leftover cash for a year, I made the order.

What I got really pleased me.

I went for a kiji do (raw hide) with a thin coating of brownish ki-urushi laquer.

The mune is sort of plain with a thin stripe of shark skin (don't blame me, it just looked too nice to me.... And still does).

Here's a picture:

self made eye protector

As far as I can remember, I´ve never ever took part on a single keiko without an eye protector inside my men.

Unfortunately, some greedy kendo shops dare to fetch about 15€ for a single, clear piece of plastic, duh.

I finally tried to copy these by myself, and I think it worked pretty well:


What do we need?

Polycarbonate (PC-Plastic) 2mm (about 17€ for 40cmx50cm - about 9 pieces when cut)
(DON`T use Polystyrene or so called "Plexiglas" which will snap and break easily. Polycarbonate is much more stronger and prone to breaking)
A scriber.
Pliers.
Deburring tool or exacto knife.

Step 1. 
Lay an old visor onto the plastic for tracing.

Leave the white foil on, important!

straight stick or belly?

Regarding the form of a shinai, we basically have two options to choose from.

Dobari or Koto (we'll ignore Jissen here, which are nothing more than dobari on steroids).

About 2 years ago I decided to switch  from the everywhere used dobari-shinai over to the not so often seen koto-shinai.
Initially this choice was purely out of curiosity, but after a while I started see the benefits of these so called koto-shinai.

Most people say, the koto feels heavier than the their dobari counterparts of the same weight, I don´t think so.
Due to the more even weight distribution towards the tip, I personally have the feeling of a certain stronger "pull".
I seems the shinai is pulling me more forward whilst holding a more solid feeling in the tip.
This makes me more confident when obtaining the center line.
In contrast, the dobari seems to have a tip that moves more swift, but I always had the feeling of having a somewhat flimsy tip.
However, this could be just personal...

One point that is clearly on the pro site for koto-shinai is durability.
More mass along the front section makes the shinai less fragile (less breakage).
Of course, even the beefiest shinai may break easy (and eventually it splits anyway), but under the same circumstances, they should last a bit longer.

I wonder why most of the younger sport orientated kenshi I see mainly use dobari/jissen shinai, but 95% of sensei and other kodansha are mainly using koto-shinai......