Kendo
The art of the sword
A shinai (or bamboo sword) is used as a sword replacement. This is only used in the fighting or Gikeiko, when practicing kata one uses a curved wooden sword or bokken.
Need to pad this out a lot!
TopKendo training times
- Tuesday: Crawley Dojo, 7:00pm to 10:00pm
- Thursday: Crawley Dojo, 6:30pm to 8:00pm
- Sunday: Crawley Dojo, 10:00am to 12:30am (usually - please phone to check)
Equipment
Detail out the shinai, the men, the do, the tare, the bokken and the kote. lots of pictures...!
Shinai
A shinai is made up of four strips of bamboo,or take these are held together by the other parts of the shinai.
At the tip or ken-sen is the leather saki-gawa, which is held on by the string or tsuru this is used to indicate the back of the shinai. The cutting edge is called the jin-buI. Bbeneath the sake-gawa s is a small "t" shaped piece called the saki-dome which helps maintain the shape of the tip during use.
The naka-yui is a leather strip a third of the way from the tip of the shainai it is also attached to the tsuru
The area between the saki-gawa and the naka-yui is the mono-uchi or main striking area of the shinai.
The hilt of the shinai is called the tsuka-gashira, it is made up of a leather handle or Tsuka-gawa (this is also attached to the tsuru). The handguard is made up of a hard plastic ring or tsuba with a rubber ring tsuba-dome behind it. Within the body of the handle there is a square of metal the chigiri which prevents the take from moving in use.
Then the same for the do and kote etc.