1.2 BU bogu

[kancho]

How can you tell what the quality of the bogu. I hear about the stitching but what does that mean. WHat is the difference between 1.2 BU 1.5 BU or 2mm. Also if I get a small me will it stretch to get bigger?

[Nishi]

I own a 1.2bu hand stitched kit and if i had my choice again i would purchase a 1.5bu. I train constanly and after 2 years of owning this kit the men is "just" showing signs of breaking in, i have sold the kote, it was so stiff it was affecting my grip. This may just be the actual brand that i bought and may not be true to other companies, but i feel that in the years to come, the fabric in my bogu will break down before it breaks in.

The stitching is refering to the width of the stitch in the bogu, for example 2mm 3mm 4mm are usually machine stitched, where as 1.2bu 1.5bu 2.0bu refer to (generally) hand stitched bogu. The smaller the stitch, the stiffer the bogu will be. The bu stitching ( i have noticed), appears to be stitched in a square pattern, where the machine stitch look like horizontal lines. I hear that the quality these days in machine stitched bogu can be excellent, i think what it boils down to is this, the smaller the stitching the stiffer the bogu, and it comes down to your pref.

Good luck!

[Neil Gendzwill]

Bogu have stitching on the padding. The closer the distance between the stitching, the stiffer the padding and the more expensive the bogu. For hand-stitched bogu, the distance is measured in bu, a traditional Japanese measure. 1 bu == 3 mm.
For machine stitched, the measurement is in mm.

You can't compare directly between machine and hand-stitched bogu. You can't even compare between companies, one company's 3 mm may be softer than another's 4 mm.

We have hand-stitched bogu in our dojo from 3 different companies. My sensei and I both have 1.2 bu, one other fellow has 1.5 bu. In all 3 cases the men fit and was comfortable right away. My men required no break-in at all - I was actually surprised by how soft it was and yet it provides good protection, better than my old machine-stitched set which was stiff and required a couple months to break in. Nishi's ultra-stiff 1.2 bu might be a much more expensive set, I don't know. I don't have a lot of experience with the hand-stitched stuff. Mine is lower-mid-range stuff (S-27 from Koei). I will say that the kote required some time to break in, they were really stiff over the knuckles.

[JSchmidt]

I just got a new set of 1.0 bu kote and while they're certainly stiffer than my old ones in the wrist-area, they are quite usable and provide better protection than my korean 2.5mm..not to mention that the fit is perfect :).

Jakob

[kancho]

Thanks for the quick reply. But there seems to be conflicting comments on the measurments. But I do get the general idea thank You

[Nishi]

Originally posted by Neil Gendzwill
Nishi's ultra-stiff 1.2 bu might be a much more expensive set, I don't know.

I think my bogu was about $1500.00 canadian, which isnt that bad for a hand stitch, but i managed to get the cost down quite a bit buy going to yamato fibre do. I upgraded the men to titanium, which was a small extra, but im happy with it.

You may even see it this year Neil, your on my list of people to meet when we start kendo in Canada:D. So any tips on how i can train my 2 year old men to start breaking in? It is having wear and tear effects on good keoki around the upper shoulders.

___________
Sorry to side track the thread slightly!

[Hai_hai]

Originally posted by Nishi
...I think my bogu was about $1500.00 canadian...

That should come out to about $75 US.

Just kidding. I usually bought my hockey equipment from Canadian stores.

[Nishi]

Actually is was about £700 sterling, or mabye $1100 dollars u.s. The bogu is only 2 years old, but im not looking forward to using canadian dollars for buying kendo equipment...CDN dollar is to weak compared to the rest of the world.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Actually the Canadian dollar is pretty strong right now, over .75 US and rising which is causing some concern.

If your men isn't broken in after 2 years I'm not sure what to tell you. Did you "train" the shoulder flaps by breaking them the way you like and storing them tied up to your men?

As far as meeting me... I think you're arriving too late for the Winnipeg seminar which is usually in mid-October, but I hope you'll some out to Saskatoon for our seminar in late February.

[Karaken]

Originally posted by Nishi
Actually is was about £700 sterling, or mabye $1100 dollars u.s. The bogu is only 2 years old, but im not looking forward to using canadian dollars for buying kendo equipment...CDN dollar is to weak compared to the rest of the world.

Nishi, where did you buy your bogu from? I have 1.2bu from Kumdoshop.com it's new ( 3 months ) but it's about to break-in so I'm curious.

Center - break-in center

[Phlebas]

"Did you "train" the shoulder flaps by breaking them the way you like and storing them tied up to your men?" -- Neil Gendzwill

I'd like to hear a little more about this, Neil, could you elaborate? I'm aware of how you are supposed to tie up the flaps at the end of practice, but what did you mean by "training the shoulder flaps by breaking them the way you like"? I will be receiving bogu soon and I would appreciate any advice. I have heard that there are ways of making the men-flaps curl upwards more, and there are ways of keeping them down, if that's your preference. Any tips, anyone?

[Neil Gendzwill]

When your men arrives, the flaps are straight so you have to bend them before use. You have to decide which way you want them to bend. Some people like them straight over the shoulders, some like them more forward, some people like them up like wings, others like them down on the shoulder. The most common way is to start the bend right where they first join the men-gane (there is usually a leather(ette) reinforcing piece there) and then fold them so that the corners meet at the centre bar of the men gane, but you can angle it more or less according to personal preference. Of course you should make sure that at the back it is bending below where you normally tie your knot. After you've made your bend, use the men-himo to tie the flaps in place and store it that way at first to set the bend.

If you make a hard break (ie really crease them) and always tie them up when not in use, you'll end up with the flaps sticking up wing style. If you don't make such a hard break and you untie the men each time you get home, you'll end up with them more on your shoulders. The latter style is more common these days. Be careful how you tie them, you can end up with an unsightly wave in the middle if you wrap it up too hard.

[Phlebas]

Great! Many thanks, Neil. I'll be careful not to wrap the men himo too tightly around the flaps after practice, that's a really good piece of advice.

Rei