Aikido weapon Shop
Minh Huynh
Aikido Shops
http://www.yamatobudogu.com/default.asp expensive, lots of freebie (I don’t know why, they keep sending me free equipment)
http://www.seidoshop.com/ good equipment, custom embroidery, and laser engraving, Aikikai approve equipment.
http://www.discountdojo.com/ Good discount for Dojo
http://www.e-bogu.com/ Good midrange equipment
http://www.kingfisherwoodworks.com/ expensive custom bokken (Hickory etc..)
http://www.aikido24.com/ good equipment, a little bit more expensive than e-bogu, make sure to select US store and not Eu
Best bokken from Japan is make from:
Sunuke - Heavier than tsubaki build strength but not for contact
The "Sunuke" (Hamamelidaceae) comes from 250 and 400 years old "Isu no ki" trees. Logging quotas established by the government of the archipelago on this tree make it a rare and precious wood. With its dark brown color, "Sunuke" is a very dense and heavy wood, it sustains shocks relatively poorly. The "cheap" sunuke bokken are usually dyed. Our weapons are all guaranteed 100% natural sunuke. The sunuke weapons are particularly heavy and are not suitable for full contact practice. They are excellent however for practice Suburi or to practice Kata for the development of tenouchi and tanren work. Note that sunuke made weapons weight can significantly vary depending on available material.
Tsubaki (Camellia japonica)
The "Tsubaki" (Carmelia japonica) is a tree that is found throughout the southern part of Japan and it can reach over 500 years of age. This tree is used since immemorial times in Japanese crafts to make various objects of everyday life such as dishes and furnitures. Its uniform color makes it an ideal wood for making decorative bokken, though they are also ideal for practice. In recent years, the camellia has been used to replace the legendary biwa (Loquat) wooden bokken. Indeed, the biwa is extremely rare and expensive (regular price for a bokken in real Biwa is approximately 100,000 JPY, the bokken sold at cheap rate under the "Biwa" label are in reality made of Tsubaki). Camellia is very close to the biwa, both by its appearance and by its characteristics, both impact resistant, lightweight, and very pleasant to the touch. Unlike Sunuke, Tsubaki is more flexible, resilient, and therefore stronger. However, it is lighter, making it an excellent practice bokken for flexibility and precision, especially for women. Certainly less strong than white oak, we do not recommend it for full contact practice, but it will sustain shocks relatively well.
A Biwa (Loquat) bokken start at $821
Loquat or 'Biwa' is a tree that is mostly found in the southern parts of Japan, it's a tree that is grown mainly for it's fruit. However, the wood from this tree also makes for a great Bokken.
Loquat wood is known for it's characteristic color and the smooth feel of the wood. As the wood also features excellent impact resistance due to it's flexibility, being hard without being brittle, since it unlike most of the "hard wood" retains it's flexibility
even after being dried and made into a Bokken. This made it the choice of many master swordsmen in the past, as many samurai also considered a Loquat Bokken as a reliable weapon rather than a simple substitute for a real sword. It's also said by some that
Miyamoto Musashi prefered to used Loquat for his Bokken.
However, nowadays it's increasingly hard to get a hold of good loquat wood, making it as rare or even rarer than Sunuke. Thanks to this the price has risen considerably and made the Loquat Bokken a luxury item.
The best bokken from Europe and US is make for Hickory.
The best for normal practice is Japanese White Oak. Best for contact practice at the Dojo.
Best regards,
(\__/) Minh Huynh
(='.'=) mhu...@altweb.com
(")_(") 408.550-3145
Christopher Pham
Hi anh Mình,
Will they accept dollars?
Thank you for sharing!
Thx,
/ chp
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tenshinkai Aikido San Jose" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sj-tenshinkai-ai...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to sj-tenshin...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sj-tenshinkai-aikido.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Minh Huynh
They all do.
Minh
The best bokken from Europe and US is make from Hickory.
The best for normal practice is Japanese White Oak. Best for contact practice at the Dojo.
Best regards,
(\__/) Minh Huynh
(='.'=) mhu...@altweb.com
(")_(") 408.550-3145
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tenshinkai Aikido San Jose" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sj-tenshinkai-ai...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to sj-tenshin...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sj-tenshinkai-aikido.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Minh Huynh
Anh Hoang,
I like the Seido Shop store from Japan the best. Shipping is very fast. Next after that, I like e-bogu. It is both Japan and California base shop.
From all the research, the best material for Bokken and Jo is ‘Japanese White Oak’, this is because of the way how we practice in our dojo. I don’t recommend that any of our Dojo student use Sunuke, Tsubaki, or Biwa. If they do, and decide to do contact block or strike with a ‘Japanese White Oak’ weapon. The ‘Japanese white oak’ will break. Those, wooden weapon are more fit for self-practice to build strength. All of the bokken and Jo that I got for Tenshinkai’s dojo is ‘Japanese white oak’. It is strong, but also flexible to absorb the strike. Harmony is the name of the game here.
Japanese white oak is not the same as American oak that one find in the US. I never have a hickory bokken, but that is the type of wood that is recommend if you plan to hit sandbag, tree etc… Hickory require time and slow strike compression to build up strength.
I have both Sunuke and Tsubaki weapon if you want to try it. They are more for display than for practice.
Minh
D
Sent from my iPhone