Product Details

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Below you can see some specific styles and shapes of training tools to give you an idea of what we offer. 

Bokken

Blade shape: At Shinbudo we offer two blade styles on our bokken. The first is our Traditional style bokken (fig c.). This style has a rounded shaped and is slightly more robust. While both styles are more than sturdy enough to train with under normal training conditions, we recommend this style if your primary use is kumitachi or other impact training. Also, the rounded shape of this bokken will be more forgiving to wooden weapons, and also adds a bit more thickness to the bokken.

Our second style is what we call our Shinbudo style (fig a. and b.). This style has beveled edges and more resembles the general shape of a shin-ken. Because of the beveling, this bokken will be slightly lighter than the traditional style, and is great for suburi. You can only get a bohi (blood groove) on the Shinbudo bokken.

Ultimately, while the traditional style is slightly thicker, both styles will hold up well for years of training. Your final decision should be based on what you prefer visually.

Bohi: The bohi, commonly and incorrectly called a blood groove, adds a great visual appearance to the bokken. Additionally, it makes the bokken slightly lighter and give it a great "swooshing" sound when swung. The removal of the material, while making it lighter, can also reduce the durability of the bokken when doing impact training. We recommend bokken with bohi used for koryu training or suburi. 

Sori (curve): We offer two choices on the curvature of our bokken. Our “katana” style is meant to more closely resemble the curvature of a shin-ken, while our “Aiki” style is meant for our Aikido practitioners who are used to a bokken with slightly less curve. Our “katana” style have roughly a 0.75in. (1.9cm) sori, while our “Aiki” style has around a 0.5in. (1.27cm) sori. 

Size: Our bokken are all roughly 39 in. (99cm) long, but we offer size options in the handle length and diameter. These measurements are approximate as each bokken is made by hand and we prefer not to sacrifice the balance and feel of our training tools to keep them within specifc size restrictions.

The following are our general handle dimensions and they vary between Aiki and Katana Sori, and from bokken to bokken. These are meant as guidelines only.

Aiki

Bo, Jo and Hanbo

We are currently only making staff weapons from canvas phenolic and round.

Bo: Around 6 ft in length, our bo are roughly 1 1/8 in. - 1 ¼ in. inches diameter. 

Jo: Around 5 ft in length, our Jo are roughly 1 in. - 1 1/16 in. in diameter. 

Hanbo: Around 3 ft in length, our hanbo are roughly 7/8 in. – 1 1/16 in. in diameter. 

Tsuba

Tsuba are essentially add-ons to our bokken. Each tsuba is handcrafted and fits the bokken it was made for specifically. Below you will find a few options that we occasionally offer.