Products information
Hand Stitched Pad
Based on over two hundred years of Kendo armour production, craftsmanship has been developed and combined with traditional and innovative techniques.
Originally material were cotton and wools and the products were right and durable.
Cotton has high water absorption and repulsion character because it has tube fabric structure.
In a dry condition, it is right weight and solid but when it absorbs sweat, it becomes much harder material. The salt in sweat was taken into space in the tube structure then it fixes a given shape by the user when it dry. The salt stays inside of the tube and won't come out to surface easily.
The traditional hand stitched cushion pad contains a large amount of cotton and it made a needle difficult to go through the thick cotton pad.
Now a day, the majority of hand stitched armour has a synthetic fabric pad in the core of the cushion.
As a result, the cushion pad is heavy then a strong impression of heavy hand made armour has emerged.
Machine Stitched Pad
Under USA governance after II WW, Kendo was prohibited in Japan and many hand stitched armour were scraped though some of them were secretly kept safely. After three years prohibition, Kendo-ka needed their armour. At that period, Kazuman Tada innovated a machine stitch cushion pad and getting popular as an alternative product of hand stitched Kendo armour. It was reasonable and well accepted then it is the majority of Kendo armour now. A technical issue is not solved now which is a sawing machine cannot take the same amount of cotton to hand stitch and alternately synthetic fabric pad is inside of the cushion.
Benefit of machine stitch cushion:
Reasonable price because of mas-production and stable supply.
Disadvantage:
Won't hold shape easily in order to contain a small portion of cotton. A sawing machine cannot handle three dimensional stitch easily and we cannot apply the traditional techniques on it.
Armour Repair
Any Kendo armour will be worn out because of your hard practice.
It is important to look after your armour by yourself regularly and the maintenance keeps the armour life long.
We do our best to support you and repair any armour at our shop in Paris and our stand in many events in Europe so please visit us and ask any question or doubt.
Shinai Type
Basically Shinai has three different types: Standard, Do-Bari and Choku-Tou.
Standard type:
It is a well balanced traditional type and can be use by all. Usually it is reasonable.
Do-Bari:
The thickest part of the shinai is very close to the right grip. It means the balance centre is close to the grip and the top of the shinai is thin and right. Generally it makes easy to swing from junior to senior but the thin top part gets damaged quite often.
Choku-Tou
Keeping the shinai shape straight compared to other types. The thick and heavy top area makes the impact strong. Experienced Kendo-ka who is challenging to deliver strong impact has a tendency to choose this type because they swing it within a body movement, not only by arms. They are able to deliver swift impact even they hold top heavy shinai.
Boku-tou
Kashi (Oak) is the most popular material for Boku-tou for Kendo Kata practice because of softness and solidness in a good balance. Carefully selected Hon-gasi (genuine Oak) and Biwa (Eriobotrya japonica) are well- recieved.
Beautiful Kokutan (Ebony) and Yusu / Isu-no-ki / Sunuke (Distylium racemosum) are much harder material and good for Suburi practice but those are not suitable for Kata practice which is hitting each other hard.
Shinai Parts
We are able to modify a Shinai with parts depends on your request particularly a hilt length. We have many variations of Tsuba and Tsuba-dome are stock in our shop. Please visit us and choose one of your favourite.
Kendou-gi
All Kendo-gi was made from 100% cotton fabric dyed by Indigo in the past.
Indigo dyeing is a high antiseptic effect and killing bacteria. It avoids smelly odor or protects from germ on cut or slash injury.
Traditionally Kendo-gi had a single layer or double layer fabric. The thick double layered one was preferable because of protection from mis-hit during Kendo practice though the single layered one is good for hot Summer practice and light weight makes easy to carry than the other.
Recently synthetic knitting fabric is getting popular because of the softness. It must be treated ordinal training wear and must be washed every after a single practice because of hygiene reason.
Hakama
As same as Kendo-gi, genuine quality Hakama is made from cotton fabric and indigo dye. Heavier fabric weight is preferred by senior grade and lighter weight fabric is chosen younger generations because heavy fabric interrupts own movement during hard practice. Those genuine cotton Hakama require proper care include folding each after practice to keep crispy crease.
Washing is an issue for a brand new cotton Hakama. Keep folding and rinse with water then hang unfold Hakama. When you find a dirty area, use a sap on the spot only. No washing machine or tumble dryer.
Synthetic material is another option to make easy to care. Never lose crease but must wash quite often as usual training wear. If you are choosing the first Hakama for you this is the one.
Protector / Guard
We provide a variety of product which supports body movement and prevents injury. Many different items protect you from common Kendo injury include heal, achilles or wrist. Those make your risk minimum.
One of the most frustrating comes in recovery time from injury. You must rest and no Kendo practice.
Prior to any injury If you have any uncomfortable movement or pain, please wear appropriate protector until you feel okay without any doubt.
If you are recovering from any injury, we recommend wearing a thin protector made by high shock absorption material. It will avoid the second injury on the same spot until you improve your Kendo.
Please let us know if you have any issues. We can choose the right one for you.
Sizes and Measurements
You don't know how to take your measurements ?
This is something completely normal. But don't worry : you can come to our shops to be sure of the data, but you can do all this also yourself, and we will explain you how to do it !
MEN
A key point for Men1 measurement is that the measuring line must run outside the cheek born and an edge of the ear.
KOTE
Some Kote requires Kote3 and Kote4 measurements.
HAKAMA
Please measure from a waist (a top of the hip curve) to the low end of an ankle born. The measuring tape must run over a hip bump, not the middle of two bumps.
The diagram below shows Hakama length from below the belt to the bottom edge. It is not the whole length including the belt.
Please be aware any cotton HAKAMA will shrink around 2cm.
DO
Those are our precise DO measurement.
If you order a custom DO, please let us know Do1 - Do7 measurements.