Buying Bogu from Australia

[Preacher]

I'm new to Kendo and am in the process of purchasing my first Bogu. Was wondering from students in Australia what they ended up doing as in terms of Bogu purchase.
Did you buy from Amplus in Australia?
or did you seek equipment elsewhere and waited on the import from Korea or Japan?
Also was is it a painfull process?

P.S. How do you setup your on custom avatar?

Thanks guys,

[soapdish]

Hi Preacher

Im out in Western Australia........so we're forced to order from overseas. ummmm unless im wrong in assuming ur from the east.....

anyway. Our club orders bogu mainly through kendoshop. its been pretty consistent. (ie fit, what we consider value for money, and overall endurance)

otherwise if ur going to japan or korea sometime thats always the best.......where u can usually try before u buy.

[qpuppy]

Hi Preacher

First, I would not recommend Amplus. Those guys knows very little about kendo, or the equipment. I would say if you want quality, go to Koei Budogu. They are very consistant, and great stuff at a very reasonable cost, might be slight more expensive then kendoshop, but the items (especially bogu) are at a great standard.

Koei's website : www.koei-budogu.co.jp

Give them an email first. the prices in yen is what you might pay in Japan, but for us in Australia, we get a huge discount for it. The international Manager of Koei is 'Mr. Terada'. Give them an email and state Alvin Chen from Melbourne refered you to him. He will look after you.

Cheers
Alvin Chen

[Taek]

Hi Preacher,

I really enjoyed my process of buying bogu. I got lots of tips from this forum when I bought my bogu.

I wrote this for a biginner who asked me the same question at our dojo before and thought it might give you some help.

Quality and price of bogu are normally depend on what kind of material is used to make bogu and how tightly stitched.

For example ;

material

- a men with titanium mengane(grill) is more expensive than one with duralumin mengane (titanium is stronger but heavier)
- a doh made of 50 or 60 pieces of bamboo is more expensive than doh made of fiber glass or plastic (bamboo doh is known to absorb impact better but don't worry about wasting your hard earned money on doh. Plastic yamato doh (imitation bamboo doh) will be more than good enough)
- kote with smoked deer skin palm and deer hair padding is better and more expensive than one with cow leather or synthetic material such as cotton. (deer hair has hole in the middle and tends to absorb impact better and deer skin is more durable than other leather)
- tare...I wouldn't worry about buying expensive one. Practically or ascetically, no point to have a high end one like 2mm or 1.2 bu. Your zekken (name plate) will cover half of the tare and no one is going to hit your lower body.

If you are planning to buy your bogu mix and match style rather than a set, I strongly recommend you to a get good men and a good pair of kote. The men is basically the only thing between shinai and your valuable head. Kote is another part that can be very painful if you get one of those accidential hit which happens all the times and it's palm wears out very fast as it is always in contact with shinai handle so better to get good set of kote. Some people even buy 2 sets of Kote and rotate them so they last longer.

stitching

- hand stitched bogu is normally better and more expensive than machine stitched bogu.
- Machine stitched bogu is usually described using mm. 2 mm machine bogu is 'usually' better than 3, 4, 5 or 6 mm. It stands for stitching distance. Smaller the number tighter the stitching is, therefore tighter stitching is stiffer and harder which gives you better protection. Hand stitched ones are described as 1, 1.2, 1.5 or 2 bu rather than mm. 1 or 1.2 bu bogu can be quite stiff and may take a while to break in.
I think 1 bu is similar to 2 or 2.5 mm but hand stitched 1 bu is softer than 2mm machine stitched bogu.

These are some information that you will need when you look for your bogu in the internet or catalogues.

Bogu from Japan is very good but can be expensive. Usually twice more expensive than Korean one or sometimes even more. You might be lucky to find a Japanese 4mm machine stitched one with same amount money that you can purchase Korean made 1.2 or 1.5 bu hand stitched one. Some Japanese hand stitched bogu can be over AU$10.000.00 and takes 6 mths to 1 year to have made....titanium mengane, #10.000 indigo material, 60 pcs bamboo with shark skin doh and so on.

If you purchase your bogu from overseas such as Korea or Japan, you need to add another AU$100 to AU$150 for shipping..usually sent by EMS.

Followings are some boguya that I'd like to recommend.

Japanese
http://www.moribudo.co.jp/ef-first.htm (they've got a 4.5mm handstitched bogu on special at the moment and fantastic service..speak perfect English and fast response)
http://www.koei-budogu.co.jp/ (very popular among Australians...our dojo used to get special discount but I'm not sure now)
http://www.mitsuboshi-web.com/english/kendo/index.html
http://www.zen-sankei.co.jp/products.html
http://www.kk-sanbu.com/index.html (very nice bogus..may be the best but unbelievably expensive)
http://www.budo-suzuki.com/
http://www.eikobudogu.com/

Korean
http://www.sehyun-kumdo.com/sehyunindex.htm (one of the biggest and may be the best one from Korea)
http://www.pentagon.co.kr/gray/main.htm (their hand stitched ones are more expensive than others but very good reputation)
http://www.kumdomall.com/ (real name is Woo Chang...people say one of the best in Korea now)
http://www.kumdoshop.co.kr/ (real name is Shin Ra and has very good reputation in Korea)
http://www.mykendo.com/ (they claim 100% their material is from Japan but who knows. Very very cheap)
http://kendoshop.com/shop/index.php
http://www.kendosale.com/kendoh/html/main-frame.htm


and don't forget to do some reading in this Forum...there are lots of info about bogu.

I hope this helped.

Cheers

[taganahan]

e-kendo.com is quite cheap if your looking for quality yet cheap bogu.

~taganahan

[Preacher]

Thanks very much guys,

Very helpful! I wasn't really after information about what kind of equipment to look for. I kind of knew what I wanted to buy, ( 2mm Deerskin/ double chamber/ #7000 indigo Kote, 2mm Leather/#7000/ 7 stitched pad/ duraluminium Men, 4mm Do, 4mm Tare). Spending more on the Men and Kote and worrying too much on the Do and Tare. Just wondering if Amplus being in Australia were any good to deal with and weather their equipment fell apart. Things like that.
Also is there anyone in Australia on the forum have anything good to say about them?
Or does everyone just shop overseas.

[ECL]

I've ordered my bogu from them, hasn't arrived yet, but the demo unit I saw looked alright. Obviously not the greatest quality in the world, but it is decent enough for a beginner and I expect it to last at least till I'm shodan. and it's very affordable. The guy I've dealt with (Charlie) has been very helpful , responds to emails fast and has answered all my questions honestly.

No complaints from me.

I think overall in life you get what you pay for and I don't see that being any different for kendo.

[Preacher]

Thanks ECL,

I've had the same type of response via email. He's quick!
Could you tell me what series Bogu you ended up purchasing? And how much you paid. If that's OK?

[ECL]

I got a 2mm machine stitched with a yamato do with a "ken" symbol on it. THe kote are double chambered filled with deer wool. I think all their sets are from Seyhun currently.

[Preacher]

I wont be able to spend that much. I'll have to mix and match abit to stay under the budget.

[Preacher]

Been emailing Charile from Amplus and he's said that they get their Bogu from the same supplier as Sehyun, however they've ordered small mod's to the bogu that they wanted.

[Nanbanjin]

You should stick with Koei. As a few people have said, they usually have massive discounts off their catalogue prices for people purchasing from Australia.

[Preacher]

Thank you very much for the advise. I'm going to email them. Before I do, can you tell me if they're good with English?

[Nanbanjin]

Yes, they speak good enough English to get by and you will find that they understand much better when you write things down. One of the guys at our club is currently putting an order in with them and I am getting a spare set of kote.

[Snipar]

Have a look at bogubag.com, Sensei Stroud offers good advice and good prices on Koei Bogu.

[Soul Blade]

Hey there Snipar

here is another guy who imports Bogu from Japan

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~priordan/

Maybe give them a call.

Cheers

[Preacher]

Thanks Soul Blade, will definetly have a look.

Another question guys, the colour of the Bogu on the Koei site look like a light blue indigo. Is this correct, is it that colour or is just the colour on the web site?

[Hai_hai]

...Another question guys, the colour of the Bogu on the Koei site look like a light blue indigo. Is this correct, is it that colour or is just the colour on the web site?
Some bogu is lighter blue than others. I have a medium-dark blue colored bogu. I've seen darker blue than mine.
I think the computer monitor doesn't truly replicate the color, from their catalog, it appears medium blue. So it may appear "light blue" to you when compared to other pictures you may have seen on the Net.

[Preacher]

Thanks for that Hai, Hai.

@Soul Blade,

When I started searching and investigating Dojo's around my area to start up Kendo, I looked at the internet and yellowpages for all the different places that offered it, however I never found any Dojo's run by Japanese Sensei,s. Do you know of any in Sydney?
Maybe I should direct this to another Thread.

[Preacher]

I just wanted to say when I started this thread that I was asking whether or not anyone had bought from Amplus and whether the service and the product were any good; well I can say that I have bought a Bogu from them and their service and product is good.
I purchased a mix of 2mm Kote and Men and 4mm Do and Tare. It took almost 4 weeks to get made up and ship from Korea but I'm happy with the outcome. It's definetly a quality product and Mike from Amplus answered every commuincation and because I'd never dealt with them and didn't know too many other people that had, I asked numerous questions and made sure that every step was followed exactly. He doesn't mind talking over the phone either! Amplus didn't mind the mix and match either and didn't mind the fact that I had a limited budget.
I recommend them to anyone.

[ben]

I just wanted to say when I started this thread that I was asking whether or not anyone had bought from Amplus and whether the service and the product were any good; well I can say that I have bought a Bogu from them and their service and product is good.
(snip)
I recommend them to anyone.

Mike and Charlie are very keen and I think they have gone to a lot of trouble to source their own connections for bogu etc. I visited their "warehouse" the other day and thought I'd walked into a Japanese bogu shop! They had so much stuff! And because they are Melb Uni Kendo Club members, if anyone has trouble with them I can make sure they do extra hard kakarigeiko as penance!

b

[Andoru]

I've dealt with Mike on behalf of the Sydney Kendo Club. In terms of customer service, they are first rate.

[Hai_hai]

This is a test message

[DCPan]

Hey there Snipar

here is another guy who imports Bogu from Japan

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~priordan/

Maybe give them a call.

Cheers

Their website moved...it is now:

Momiji Trading (http://www.bigglesbear.com/)

[DanDan]

Hi Preacher,
Japanese
http://www.moribudo.co.jp/ef-first.htm (they've got a 4.5mm handstitched bogu on special at the moment and fantastic service..speak perfect English and fast response)
http://www.koei-budogu.co.jp/ (very popular among Australians...our dojo used to get special discount but I'm not sure now)
http://www.mitsuboshi-web.com/english/kendo/index.html
http://www.zen-sankei.co.jp/products.html
http://www.kk-sanbu.com/index.html (very nice bogus..may be the best but unbelievably expensive)
http://www.budo-suzuki.com/
http://www.eikobudogu.com/

Korean
http://www.sehyun-kumdo.com/sehyunindex.htm (one of the biggest and may be the best one from Korea)
http://www.pentagon.co.kr/gray/main.htm (their hand stitched ones are more expensive than others but very good reputation)
http://www.kumdomall.com/ (real name is Woo Chang...people say one of the best in Korea now)
http://www.kumdoshop.co.kr/ (real name is Shin Ra and has very good reputation in Korea)
http://www.mykendo.com/ (they claim 100% their material is from Japan but who knows. Very very cheap)
http://kendoshop.com/shop/index.php
http://www.kendosale.com/kendoh/html/main-frame.htm


and don't forget to do some reading in this Forum...there are lots of info about bogu.

I hope this helped.

Cheersdo all these shops ship to the US?

[DanDan]

Hi Preacher,
Followings are some boguya that I'd like to recommend.

Japanese
http://www.moribudo.co.jp/ef-first.htm (they've got a 4.5mm handstitched bogu on special at the moment and fantastic service..speak perfect English and fast response)
http://www.koei-budogu.co.jp/ (very popular among Australians...our dojo used to get special discount but I'm not sure now)
http://www.mitsuboshi-web.com/english/kendo/index.html
http://www.zen-sankei.co.jp/products.html
http://www.kk-sanbu.com/index.html (very nice bogus..may be the best but unbelievably expensive)
http://www.budo-suzuki.com/
http://www.eikobudogu.com/

Korean
http://www.sehyun-kumdo.com/sehyunindex.htm (one of the biggest and may be the best one from Korea)
http://www.pentagon.co.kr/gray/main.htm (their hand stitched ones are more expensive than others but very good reputation)
http://www.kumdomall.com/ (real name is Woo Chang...people say one of the best in Korea now)
http://www.kumdoshop.co.kr/ (real name is Shin Ra and has very good reputation in Korea)
http://www.mykendo.com/ (they claim 100% their material is from Japan but who knows. Very very cheap)
http://kendoshop.com/shop/index.php
http://www.kendosale.com/kendoh/html/main-frame.htm


and don't forget to do some reading in this Forum...there are lots of info about bogu.

I hope this helped.

Cheersdo all these boguya ship to the US?

[DanDan]

Followings are some boguya that I'd like to recommend.

Japanese
http://www.moribudo.co.jp/ef-first.htm (they've got a 4.5mm handstitched bogu on special at the moment and fantastic service..speak perfect English and fast response)
http://www.koei-budogu.co.jp/ (very popular among Australians...our dojo used to get special discount but I'm not sure now)
http://www.mitsuboshi-web.com/english/kendo/index.html
http://www.zen-sankei.co.jp/products.html
http://www.kk-sanbu.com/index.html (very nice bogus..may be the best but unbelievably expensive)
http://www.budo-suzuki.com/
http://www.eikobudogu.com/

Korean
http://www.sehyun-kumdo.com/sehyunindex.htm (one of the biggest and may be the best one from Korea)
http://www.pentagon.co.kr/gray/main.htm (their hand stitched ones are more expensive than others but very good reputation)
http://www.kumdomall.com/ (real name is Woo Chang...people say one of the best in Korea now)
http://www.kumdoshop.co.kr/ (real name is Shin Ra and has very good reputation in Korea)
http://www.mykendo.com/ (they claim 100% their material is from Japan but who knows. Very very cheap)
http://kendoshop.com/shop/index.php
http://www.kendosale.com/kendoh/html/main-frame.htm


and don't forget to do some reading in this Forum...there are lots of info about bogu.

I hope this helped.

Cheersdo u know if all of these boguya will ship to the US?

[DanDan]

^oops...sorry guys...i didnt mean to post practically the same question 3 times...kept saying there was sum kinda error so i didnt thinkit posted...

[Preacher]

Guys,

Amplus Kendo link is

www.ampluskendo.com

[Taek]

Hi Dan Dan,

I believe most of the bogushops that I listed in the thread would ship bogu to overseas.
As I mentioned in other thread, only problem will be you will need someone who can help you with order as some of the shops don't have staff who can speak English.

[Hai_hai]

^oops...sorry guys...i didnt mean to post practically the same question 3 times...kept saying there was sum kinda error so i didnt thinkit posted...

YES http://www.moribudo.co.jp/ef-first.htm
YES http://www.koei-budogu.co.jp/
YES http://www.mitsuboshi-web.com/english/kendo/index.html
? http://www.zen-sankei.co.jp/products.html
? http://www.kk-sanbu.com/index.html
? http://www.budo-suzuki.com/
? http://www.eikobudogu.com/

YES http://www.sehyun-kumdo.com/sehyunindex.htm
? http://www.pentagon.co.kr/gray/main.htm
? http://www.kumdomall.com/
? http://www.kumdoshop.co.kr/
? http://www.mykendo.com/
YES http://kendoshop.com/shop/index.php
? http://www.kendosale.com/kendoh/html/main-frame.htm

US stores
www.e-bogu.com
www.eguchi.net
www.bogubag.com

[DanDan]

^no prob *puts mom on the phone* heheh
i'm not too good @ speaking korean...(i was born in the US...)

[kendoindia]

Hello dear friend Kendokas,
I had tried this company & found economical & good sets, there franchise is nearly all over the globe, try to contact them for more details http://pro-budo.ca/contactpb.html