Tsurugi Bashi Kendo Kai

Kendo Equipment

Terminology Swords Ranking Equipment

For your first month or two you won't need any equipment other than a shinai (bamboo sword) and bokuto (wooden sword). You can practice in loose sports clothing and delay any further expenses until you know that you want to keep practicing.

Once you have decided to continue with kendo, and certainly by the time you have committed to taking your 5-kyu exam, you will have to obtain suitable clothing: a kendogi (kendo jacket) and a hakama (pleated split-skirt).

After you pass the 4-kyu exam you will start wearing bogu (armour). The full kendo armour is made of four elements: tare (waist protector), do (breastplate), men (helmet) and a pair of kote (gauntlets). Bogu is expensive to buy but the dojo may lend you your first bogu for a few months, subject to availability of spares.

Kendo outfit

Kendo Equipment Manual

The single most useful resource about kendo equipment is the wonderful booklet appropriately entitled Kendo equipment manual, written and illustrated by Yasuji Ishiwata. It contains everything from armour construction through shinai maintenance to how to wear, fold and wash the hakama. It can be bought very cheaply (500 yen) at bogu shops in Japan. The author is generously offering an English translation for free on the web. Since this manual is informative, short and (last but notleast) freely available, there really is no excuse for not studying it thoroughly before attempting your kyu grading.

The picture below, from the AJKF Japanese-English dictionary of Kendo, lists the names of the parts of the shinai. Make a distinction between regions of the shinai (e.g. the monouchi, which is the part of the blade of the sword which cuts best, or the tsuka, which is the hilt, or the kensen, which is the tip of the sword) and physical parts that you could go out and buy as spares (e.g. the tsukagawa, which is the leather covering of the hilt, or the sakigawa, which is the leather cap covering the tip of the sword).

shinai parts

The complete list of physical parts of a shinai is as follows, including the ones not explicitly highlighted in the above diagram.

  • sakigawa: The leather cap on the tip of the sword.
  • sakigomu: The rubber mushroom-shaped stopper that prevents the take from poking through the sakigawa.
  • take: The four bamboo slats of which the body of the shinai is made.
  • tsuru: The cord that holds together the sakigawa and tsukagawa. It represents the back of the blade.
  • nakayui: The strip of leather that ties the take together.
  • tsuba: The sword guard.
  • tsubadome: The stopper that prevents the tsuba from slipping.
  • tsukagawa: The leather cover of the tsuka.
  • chigiri: The small square metal plate embedded inside the shinai at the base of the tsuka to hold the four slats of bamboo together.

    • Kendo armour is expensive to buy. Our dojo lends members their first armour at no charge for a few months, subject to availability. A deposit of 80 GBP is required, in the form of a cheque payable to "University of Cambridge Kendo Society". Please write "kendo armour deposit", your full name and address on the back of the cheque. At the end of every term you must return your armour to the pool. The cheque will be returned to you once you return the armour, or cashed in if you disappear (but you will still have to return the armour; when you do, part of your deposit will be returned).

    The following term, if you still haven't bought your own, you will have the option to borrow a set of armour again, at the same conditions. There is no limit to the number of terms during which you may borrow armour from the dojo but, in case of scarcity, priority will be given to those who have attended most frequently in the previous term.

    Terminology Swords Ranking Equipment


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