Are breaking boards/bats purpose-made?

[MatsuShinshii]

LOL! Ouch... I'm also wondering if these things actually sell!

My guess is people practice with cheap pine or even balsa, then use the realistic looking ones for public demos and everyone will applaud and go home thoroughly impressed.

Gimmicks! Years ago I was invited to a demo and watched as multiple boards were broken. Half of a board flew over in my direction and being a nice guy I walked over and picked it up to hand to one of the holders. It felt lighter than typical. I handed the board to the nervous holder and afterwards was speaking with one of our guys that was invited to participate and he looked very upset. He said that it was a fraud. The boards had been kiln dried and that you could break one with your pinky.

I approached one of the promoters of the demo and his suspicions were correct. He told me that they used these to make sure everyone was able to break the boards so it would be more impressive to those watching and thus they would get more students.

Through the years I have seen this. Drying boards, patio stones, bricks and the like to where there is no moisture content and a strong breeze would break them.

A similar situation happened when we had a black belt from another art ask to join. He asked if he could show us his abilities and asked if we had boards that he could break. I said I would have them for him the next night. I cut the boards the night before 12x12x1 oak. He attempted a break and failed.

He asked what type of material we were using to which I replied. He said he only broke pine. I asked him to come back the following night and I would have pine for him to break. I cut 12x12x1 pine boards and brought them in. He broke the first board but complained that they were not the right thickness. I asked what was it he required and he said they should be 1/2"thickness. He also stated that no one uses these boards and accused me of setting him up.

I asked one of my Ikkyu's to break some of the 12x12x1" oak boards to which he complied. The guy stood up and walked out without saying a word.

I think this is pretty typical. Most used Tameshiwari as a way to impress rather than to test individual progress in body mechanics and power. You can't impress if you fail to break.

I do not personally use tameshiwari for testing or for demonstrations as I think it proves very little. IMHO it should be used to test your self for proper distancing, body mechanics and power generation. It can also be used to teach a student to target past and through a target. Beyond that I don't really get too tied up in breaking.