Takahiro Hayashi – born in 1978, from Shiga. He has never failed a promotion exam and became the youngest person at age 35 to reach 7th dan. Works at Tozando. Alec Bennet – born in 1970, from New Zealand. Chief editor of magazine Kendo World, Professor at Kansai University. B: Read More
Takahiro Hayashi – born in 1978, from Shiga. He has never failed a promotion exam and became the youngest person at age 35 to reach 7th dan. Works at Tozando. Alec Bennet – born in 1970, from New Zealand. Chief editor of magazine Kendo World, Professor at Kansai University. B Read More
What else can you do to win? This Tokuren® ZX Gold Bogu Set is the evolution of our popular Tokuren® X Bogu set, made especially with Shiai in mind. It’s lightweight yet protective, featuring 6mm Tight Cross-stitch stitching. The Tight Cross-stitch and the new padding inside the Futon gives this Read More
Takahiro Hayashi – born in 1978, from Shiga. He has never failed a promotion exam and became the youngest person at age 35 to reach 7th dan. Works at Tozando. Alec Bennet – born in 1970, from New Zealand. Chief editor of magazine Kendo World, Professor at Kansai University. Hayashi Read More
Even now, deerskin is used for high-quality Kendo equipment. Deerskin dyed in dark blue is used for all parts of the body, and smoked brown skin that is used for the Kote palm. During the hunter-gatherer era, deer were hunted for food, and the skin was naturally used for clothing Read More
Kendo bogu breaks down into Men, Do, Tare and Kote. Amongst these components, the Kote are particularly known for wearing out the fastest. As a matter of fact, by the time you wear one breastplate out, you’ll probably have already eaten your way through three sets of gloves. The main Read More
A Half-Century Challenge -A Father to Son Story of Invention “Working as an artisan is incredibly tough, and I have worked hard to improve the working conditions since my father’s time” says Mr. Oka. His father is the Kazuman Tada, the late founder of Tada Industrial Corporation which manufactured Japanese Read More
You’ve been to the local dojo for a look. You liked what you saw. Throngs of frenzied jedis duelling with bamboo sabres. Could this be the martial art that will change your life? There is only one way to find out. You join the local dojo Progress in kendo is Read More
Why are Bogu dyed with Indigo-dye? Bogu are traditionally dyed using Aizome (indigo-dye) and in the past Aizome was something that the Japanese people could find all around them, the indigo-dyed color being a natural part of their everyday life. The famous Edo period Ukiyo-e master Andō Hiroshige, best known Read More
In the last article about shokko, we looked at the wonderful patterns that adorn many mune and ago of bogu. This time we are going to take a closer look at the patterns with which most kendo practitioners are familiar, such as Kozakura (Cherry blossoms) and Shobu (Japanese Iris) Read More
