Shipping ties on a new shinai

by Wong
(Brunei)

My senpai asked me to cut the red and golden shipping ties on a shinai from the top towards the handle (never from bottom to top) and we should keep the ties in our bags or something.

My senpai doesn't know the reason though. So what's the reason/story behind for:

- cutting from the top

- keeping the strings

Hontou ni arigatou gozaimasu.

Answer: Thank you for your post! I have never heard of that so I went to ask Japanese biggest kendō forum, Ichinikai.

Our conclusion: We’ve never heard of cutting from the top or keeping the strings.

I think that those strings are to put shinai together while making it. Here is the video.

And another opinion about the strings is to keep shinai from distorted by humidity or while transporting them to shops.

Mind you though. This does not mean that what your senpai heard is wrong. Kendo is fairly new compared to kenjutsu but I am sure that over the course of its development, we lost a lot of tradition.

So at the moment no one knows why.

Sorry that I cannot help you with this.

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