Kendo Equipment

Kendo equipment consists of the swords, uniform and armor. There are two types of wooden swords used. First, the bokken or bokuto, a solid wood sword made of oak or another suitable hardwood. The bokuto is used for basics and forms practice (kata). Second, the shinai, is made up of four bamboo staves and leather. The shinai is used for full contact sparring practice. For our practices, men use a shinai 39 in length, with a min. 500 grams women use a shinai 38 in length, with a min. 420 grams.

The uniform or dogi consists of woven cotton top called a keikogi and pleated skirt-like trousers called a hakama. The armor or bogu consists of four pieces: the helmet (men), the body protector (do), the gloves (kote), and the hip and groin protector (tare). Modern Kendo armor design is fashioned after the Oyoroi of the Samurai. In addition, there is a sweat cloth (tenugui, also hachimaki) worn under the men.

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Take arrows in your forehead, but never in your back. —Samurai maxim