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The standard wood for all of our weapons is Japanese Oak, or Kashi in
Japanese. This is because Kashi is the traditional material for making practice
weapons, jo, bokuto, naginata and yari in Japan. The reason Kashi was chosen
traditionally is quite simple. It is very hard, durable, inexpensive, and unlike
most woods, does not splinter when used in striking practice. Instead, kashi
compress slightly at the point of impact, but it does not bend, crack, or splinter.
I have a wonderful jo that I have been
using regularly for over a year for Shinto Muso Jodo practice. Although it recieves
and gives many hundreds of strikes at every practice, it is still in excellent
condition. The surface is a bit more contoured than when I purchased it thanks to
the various bumps caused by hitting bokuto, but it has never splintered. Like North
American oak, kashi comes in both red and white varieties. Both make excellent
bokuto and jo. Kashi is in fact the standard wood for many traditional koryu arts,
including Shinto Muso Ryu jodo, Jigen Ryu Kenjutsu, and kashima Shinryu Kenjutsu. |
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Sunuke is an expensive Japanese hardwood that has all
of the same properties as kashi. However, because it is much rarer, it is more
expensive. It makes an excellent gift for senseis, and in fact my teachers all have
sunuke weapons. These are even older than my weapons, but are still in excellent
condition. It has a darker, richer color than kashi, and is a bit heavier and
denser. A truly wonderful wood to practice with. |
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Kokutan is a third type of
wood and is used in our nunchaku. More information on this wood will be available shortly. |
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Notes from Peter Boylan of Mugendo
Budogu |
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