The Best Material for a Bokken

[Harkon72]

In our style of Aikido we use a bokken to train in free kumite or randori. What material do you think is best? This school of Aikido go for light, tough bokken. I have used red and white oak in the past, light and heavy. Some people advocate soap wood, but I've never seen any soap wood bokken. I saw a company sell bamboo laminate bokken; these are supposed to be light and tough and they are not too expensive. There is a fashion for plastic ones now, some have built in finger guards while others have wrapped handles and plastic saya. Others in our club use the traditional oak and they stain them, I fancy the bamboo one, but I'm not sure. Any thoughts guys?

[Kusotare]

In our style of Aikido we use a bokken to train in free kumite or randori. What material do you think is best? This school of Aikido go for light, tough bokken. I have used red and white oak in the past, light and heavy. Some people advocate soap wood, but I've never seen any soap wood bokken. I saw a company sell bamboo laminate bokken; these are supposed to be light and tough and they are not too expensive. There is a fashion for plastic ones now, some have built in finger guards while others have wrapped handles and plastic saya. Others in our club use the traditional oak and they stain them, I fancy the bamboo one, but I'm not sure. Any thoughts guys?

How much weapon on weapon impact do you have?

If none or very little - it's purely a cosmetic choice.

If however you are doing some serious impact stuff then I would suggest a Keishi-ryu or Itto-ryu bokken.

It's not necesarily the wood they are made from (however in most cases they are made from white oak) It's the thickness of the weapon.

K.

[Kusotare]

The best (and to my knowledge the only) specialist bokken supplier in the UK (if not in Europe) is Nine Circles.

http://www.ninecircles.co.uk/Wooden_Weapons__Shinai/Bokken/Specialised_Bokken.aspx

They are a good bunch of guys - I would suggest you ring them.

I think they also sell the laminated bamboo bokken but I've never met anyone who trains with one.

I think they are for throwing around your head.

K.

[Harkon72]

Yes, thank you.

We train bokken, jo and tanto. We sometimes have weapon to weapon contact but most of the randori is when tori is unarmed. I have purchased weapons from Nine Circles before; their Nunchaku are some of the best I have ever had. I might buy a couple of bokken from them along with an oak jo. They do some good weapons bags too. Thank you.

[Roninkai]

Are you using the Iwama type of bokken or other style of bokken? Red and white oak are the widely use bokken in every style but I prefer the white oak rather than the red. Loquat, sunuke, Lignum vitae, orange osage, hickory, ipe and so on and on with the other type of woods that you can use to make a bokken.

Specialty cut on every style will also play an important part in training. For example, a Iwama style bokken will be beefier and heavier if you compare it to a Shinto Ryu bokken or a Jiggen Ryu bokken. You can contact Kim Taylor at SDK and check his website for all types of wooden weapons. My favorite is Kingfisher as I got their HC7 bokken/jo, a little bit on the pricy side but very reasonable.

[Harkon72]

I made my purchase, I decided that Nine Circles was too expensive. They charged over £40 for a bokken and case once the VAT and postage was added. I searched and found a red oak bokken, slightly heavier with a Japanese bokken case for £25 all in. It came today, the case is smart and the bokken feels solid and will do a good job. The finish of the oak tells you that it is a cheaper model, but for what I require it to do it is perfectly adequate. As they say in our Aikido; the defense that you use to defeat the weapon is more important than the shine of its blade.

[Kusotare]

I made my purchase, I decided that Nine Circles was too expensive. They charged over £40 for a bokken and case once the VAT and postage was added. I searched and found a red oak bokken, slightly heavier with a Japanese bokken case for £25 all in. It came today, the case is smart and the bokken feels solid and will do a good job. The finish of the oak tells you that it is a cheaper model, but for what I require it to do it is perfectly adequate. As they say in our Aikido; the defense that you use to defeat the weapon is more important than the shine of its blade.

What did you end up getting and from where?

Always interested in finding new sources of weapons supplies.

K.

[Harkon72]

I bought them from Playwell Bikers, they have a shop on ebay. Delivery was quick, no nonsense.

[Kusotare]

I bought them from Playwell Bikers, they have a shop on ebay. Delivery was quick, no nonsense.

Is it linked to Playwell.co.uk?

I must admit, the "Playwell Biker" thing is a little tenuous. A site that sells motorcycle gear as well as bokutō is a new one on me.

Still, if you are happy that's the main thing. Just don't hit anything with it I would suggest .

K.

[yamesu]

As a sword collector, I would (and do) look for one that resembles the balance and weight of my shinken which are used for tameshigiri.

This allows me to practice as close to possible with a training weapon that aligns with my live blade.