What is Keichiku?

The Keichiku bamboo species is mainly grown in Taiwan. Today, most of the standard Shinai on market is made of Keichiku, reflecting the fact that, due to the shortage of Madake and the work that’s needed to make traditional Shinai, most of the Shinai production has moved to Taiwan and more recently to mainland China.

Keichiku bamboo is known to be close to Madake because the fiber is fine and dense. But it relies on machine processing when boiling and drying the bamboo, which takes away the moisture, this makes it more prone to break or result in splinter compared to Madake.