Kendo-Guide.Com Newsletter, Issue #061 - Don't Use Someone else's Shinai

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Kendo-Guide.Com Newsletter, Issue #061 - Don't Use Someone else's Shinai
March 21, 2012

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- Kendo Shop Review-

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- Kendo Q & A -

- How Do I Know Good Dojo?

- Kendo Work Shop -

- MEN cuts

- Don't Borrow A Shinai From Your Kendo Mate-

Do you remember you were told that you should treat your shiai as a real sword. But did you really learn how to treat a sword? In this article, I would like to talk about why we shouldn't borrow a shiai from someone.

If you have done kendo for a long time, probably you have borrowed your friend's shiai because your shiai was broken. Did you know you shouldn't borrow a shiai or you shouldn't let anyone use your shiai?

Samurai used to carry their own swords, long one and short one. They took a good care of their own swords. The reason is quite obvious, isn't it?

You don't want to have a broken sword during a fight. There is why samurai wanted to have good swords and they really took a good care of them. And also the sword represents the soul of samurai. You probably do not want to let anyone touch your soul that easily.

Okay now you know you shouldn't borrow a shinai from someone or let anyone use your shiai that easily. Especially you should not touch someone else's shiai without their permission.

I think that is why it is very important for us to learn how to treat a sword. That is why we have All Japan Kendo Federation Seitei Iai.

All Japan Kendo Federation Seitei Iai shows us how to treat our sword including torei (bow to the sword).

Reference: All Japan Kendo Federation Seitei Iai

Do You Know What Kind Of Shinai Do You Like?

You should have your favorite shinai; where you want to have the centre of gravity of your shiai, how thick and long you want the tsuka, either chokuto style or dobari style and so forth. Of course, you have to try different types of shiai as well so you know what kind of shiai fits you most.

Do You Know How to Fix Your Shiai?

Needless to say it is important to know how to fix a shiai. You should know how to take your shinai a part and to put it back together. You should know how to make the tsuka shorter. You should know how to file splinters off of shinai.

Do You Have More Than One Shiai?

I prefer to have at least three shiais with me at training. And of course keep them in good shape. Sometimes I want to use one kind of shiai and other time I want to use a different kind of shiai. Depending on how I feel that day, I change the style of shiai to use on that day.

When I was young, I preferred a shinai with the centre of gravity at kensaki, because I wanted to strike fast and from far. But now I try to use a dobari shinai with the centre of gravity close to the tsuka because my shoulders hurt and want to train my ki more. I am not going to get into the detail of the reasons here.

Also it is important to have spare shiai in case your shinai breaks during practice. And this does happen. The harder you practice is, the more likely your shiai breaks during training.

I hope these help you to understand how important our shinai is and also that is why we treat shinai well with respect.

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