Shinai Maintenance

Hello everyone!!! :)

How are you doing? Are you on “kendo vacation”? Well, I was (for 2 weeks). But now, I’m  back to practice. When I arrived from my vacation the second thing I did (the first was take a shower) was take care of my shinai so I was ready to practice the following day. While I was doing that, the idea of making this post came to my mind. What I’m going to show you is the way I take care of my shinai. There are other ways to do so, but I prefer this one. I apply oil once a week and sand it occasionally (unless I see some damage that need to be fixed).I hope you enjoy this little “guide”. Any questions, just ask!

How to disassemble your shinai

What do I need to proceed with the maintenance?

Well :) I have my own kit. In the future I want to buy proper instruments to do this but, for now, this things will do. 

Like you can see in the picture, I use:

Sandpaper (medium grain) - to sand the staves if needed.

An amazing kitchen knife ;) - to cut splinters that can appear on shinai.

Shinai oil - I bought some shinai oil when I was in Japan but it came in a bottle, so, I put it in this spray bottle to make it easier to spread. I don’t no where the original bottle is anymore, but the oil is specific for shinai maintenance and is similar to the one in the picture bellow (it can be found on almost every online kendo stores). 

Shinai oil

If you don’t have this kind of oil you can use cedar oil, olive oil, or other. My senpai also taught me to rub some vaseline on the staves. 

An old stocking - this is used to rub the oil along the staves.

So, once you have your homemade kit (or a proper one :)) it’s time to carefully observe the staves looking for any damage. 

Now that you have done this, it’s time to assemble your shinai:

Finally, I wonder how long will this first shinai last...

Do for women or traditional Do?

When choosing a Bogu, we probably pay more attention to the Men and the Kote than the other components of these japanese armour. This happens because we worry about the durability and the degree of protection  these parts may provide. Still, many women are specially worried about the kind of Do they should acquire. And why? Because we have breasts...

As many of us already know, the Do is the Bogu part that protects the abdomen and the chest. The Dodai part (see the picture above) is traditionally made of bamboo but, more economical versions use other synthetic material. There are, also, many types of finishing (but I will talk about that on other post). However, regarding the Do design, there aren’t many differences between them. In fact, as Do are originally made for men body (as almost every kendoka equipment) some women have difficulties in finding something that really protects the chest area.

I know that there are risks in Kendo, as in any other physical activities. But the Bogu function is to protect us and, I know, many kenshi women have this concern: “What if I get hit in the breast?”. This may not be a problem for small breast women but, in this case: The bigger the breast, the greater the problem!

So, thinking about this, I decided to write this post hoping it would be useful for women!

Above, you can observe: the picture on the left, that shows a “normal” Do; and the picture on the right from a Do specially designed for women. As you can notice, the main difference between them is the lateral part of the Mune which is higher in the feminine Do, thus, providing better breast protection. Let’s see the pro and con of this type of Do.

Pro:

• This is, without doubt, an excellent option for the protection of the breast that tends to be exposed in the lateral part of the traditional Do.

Con:

• The major con, for me, is the price (this is not a problem for everyone, thought).
• Accessibility - it’s not easy, especially if you live in a European country, to have access to  this kind of Do. I could only find it on one online store.
• Because of its different design, some women are not comfortable with it and they fear that they may draw too much attention.

Concerning the traditional Do there are many ways to solve the problem:

• Saying “No” to the bra!

I know, I know! You were shocked or intrigued by this apparent solution. As some of you should know (and others, like me, discovered this recently), the tradition demands that we wear nothing under the kendo uniform (yes: no pants, no bra, anything). I don’t personally know anyone who doesn’t wear pants under the Hakama, but, regarding the bra, I know someone who doesn’t. She says that, because of this, the breast is a little lower being best  covered by the Do. It is important to say that her breast has a medium size. For me, this seems uncomfortable, but it works for other women.

• Wear a very good sports bra

I’d seen it all! Girls that wear two bras so the breast stays still and firm (giving them a sense of better protection); girls that wear padded bras under a tight training top (sensing that the padding provides some protection); or girls that just wear a good sports bra that flattens the breast. These are some reasonable options that does not prevent the breast exposure but can offer some additional protection. 

• Wear the Do higher

This and a good sports bra is the technique I use. It conists in tying the Himo (himo are the strings we use to tie the Men, Do and Tare) in a way that the Do satys a little higher, thus, covering more breast. My breast is not huge. It is medium-big, and, doing this I can protect him effectively in an inexpensive way.

For those girls/women that are thinking of buying a Bogu/Do pay attention to que measurement options your supplier offers. Not all suppliers ask for the hips measurement. Although, women generally have the waist thinner and the hips larger than men. Thus, if Do just contemplates the waist measurement, the hips may be a little squeezed by the lower part of the Do, which is uncomfortable.

I hope this was a useful post for you. If you know other tips, please tell me ;).

“Kissus” and keep on training!

* Imagens taken from the internet.

Buying a bogu - my first one!

Buying a bogu is not an easy task... at all! And, when you are a newbie like me, this mission gets harder to be accomplished. But I had to do it because of several reasons, such as: bogu rental in my club is very expensive wich doesn’t make it an advantajeous option; I’ve tried three kinds of bogu and could experience the differences between them, what made me decide to buy my own with the features I like most; and I’m very short and having a customized bogu set is way better then the one I wear now (wich is too large, but there were no other). These were the main reasons why I decided to buy a bogu. There are other less important ones (but I won’t bore you with that ;)).

So, how did I chose my bogu set?

I tried three kinds of bogu sets last month:

• A 6 mm bogu (the one that I’m renting);
• One 3 mm bogu;
• And a 2 mm bogu.

As far as I know, they where composed from different materials being the 6mm set the most weakly built of them. This, of course, makes a big difference since the distance  between stitches is not the only factor do consider when selecting a bogu set (as I have learned).

I can say that I felt great differences between them:

• The 6mm one was really soft but it performed a bad role in reducing the power of the hits. I know this is kind of controversial thing to say but it was what I felt. This bogu set is not new and it belongs to the club. I know that it was a very cheap set and I believe that had some influence on its actual condition (it seems too worn). It also felt heavier than the 3mm set.
• The 3mm set I tried was a pleasant surprise. I don’t know why but it gave me this “lighter” feeling. The owner said it was bought 7 months ago (so, can I say this is a new bogu set?). Regarding the power hitting absorption, I didn’t notice any difference between the sets, except for the kote hits. What a difference between 6mm and 3 mm kote. This one reduces the power of the hits way better. I can’t talk about the quality of the materials and construction because this was a new set unlike the others. Thus, the main differences I noticed were the kote and the weight and that’s enough for me.
• The 2 mm set, well... I didn’t dislike it, but I think it’s not “that incredible thing” I was expecting. I don’t know, too much expectation, perhaps? The truth is that this set (with two years) seemed just a little better then the 6mm one regarding the way it absorbs the knocks. I can say, for shore, that I felt the Kote hits harder than the 3mm set. Regarding the Men, I guess this set is as protective as the 3mm one. But one thing I liked about this set was the Men weight. It was lighter than the others wich is due to the mengane material (it was IBB Duralumin instead of the traditional duralumin). I felt it lighter but the owner said it wasn’t that lighter and that what I was feeling was the better balance this kind of mengane provides.

So... I’ve read about this (I did a lot of research on the subject and I will post about it later), I’ve worn different bogu sets and I decided what I want. I ordered a 3mm orizashi bogu set with IBB mengane. It is a customized bogu set, so I will have to wait some time (about two months, more or less). As soon as it arrives I will post pictures and do a review about it, ok? 

Have a nice weekend :) 

*Image taken from the internet.