What is your ideal Bogu?

[Jason]

I practiced Kendo from 1987 to 1990. Please help me by answering a few questions as I try to get back into it.

1) What do I look for in a Dogu? My father bought my first Dogu, which doesn't fit me now.
2) What would be your ideal Dogu if money wasn't an issue?
3) What would be the most practical Dogu you would buy if money is a issue?

I held the rank of Ruku (if I remember correctly) in the Rocky Mountain Kendo Federation. Does that Federation even exist?

Thanks,

Jason

[Neil Gendzwill]

Originally posted by Jason
1) What do I look for in a Dogu? My father bought my first Dogu, which doesn't fit me now.
Something that fits you and gives you good protection. There are two broad categories, machine-stitched and hand-stitched. Most people buy machine-stitched (less money). Also you can choose fibreglass or bamboo doh. Most people go fibreglass (less money again). For both machine-stitched and hand-stitched, the closer the stitching the better the quality. This only compares between two sets of the same maker. A Koei 4 mm set is better protection than an E-bogu 3 mm set for example, but it's also more money.
2) What would be your ideal Dogu if money wasn't an issue?
A super high-quality 1.2 bu handstitched set, such as Hirotsugu (top line that Koei sells). List price is 1.4 million yen.
3) What would be the most practical Dogu you would buy if money is a issue?
A good machine-stitched set with fibreglass doh is the best bang for your buck. For adults, this should be minimum 4 mm. If someone wants to get a good set that will last them a long time, but doesn't want to spend silly money, I usually recommend a top-line 3mm set like Koei's S22.

I generally recommend people to buy the best set they can afford. To do this, sometimes it's a good idea to mix and match. Buy the best kote and men you can, then add tare and doh from a cheaper line. Your kote and men take the most shots, and that's where you'll feel the most pain. Also better kote have some attributes that aren't obvious right away, like how long the leather will last and whether the padding over the knuckles gets redistributed. Good kote have nice thick deerskin palms that don't get stiff with sweat and wear a long time. I have the best machine-stitched kote Koei makes, still going strong after 5 or 6 years. I have one small hole in the palm.


Koei has some pretty good deals on certain bogu right now, contact Robert Stroud at www.bogu-bag.com for details.

[Neil Gendzwill]

That should be www.bogubag.com.

[ben]

Nice advertorial Neil! ;)

b

[Neil Gendzwill]

What can I say? Our club gets good prices from Koei and we're happy. Robert's the main distributor for NA so I encourage people outside our club to contact him. I think most of his profits go into Obukan so it's all good. I think if you're in Europe that eurobogu.net provides Koei equipment.

FWIW we've had a couple people buy the cheaper 3mm sets from e-bogu and we've been happy with those - very good value for the money. We don't have any experience with their better stuff. We've also got some club kote that we bought through kendoshop.com and they were good value as well. I've heard their service is somewhat variable but I had a good experience.

[alexpollijr]

Well, Ive got two sets from e-bogu so far, but also got to wear some koei and mori lower-grade stuff like 6 and 5 mm.

First one (from e-bogu) was 5mm. Not really fancy but perfectly functional. And for U$300, that was a big bag for my buck.

Later on I got this big deal on their 2mm custom made set, for about U$400 or so at the time. I'm wearing that one to this day and it's very nice stuff, superior to the lower-grade Koei and Mori stuff I've got to wear on some occasions.

[Atama]

If money wasn't an issue (which it is) I'd have me a 1.2bu hand stiched white bogu with 50 piece bamboo blue shark skin do,and titanium men...... but theres about as much chance of me getting that bogu as there is of me seein Mike Tyson in a Ballet tutu.

I have a 1.2 bu hand stiched kit at the moment that cost me £750.00 from a korean company called sehyun obviously that was one of there top end kits they have a 2.5mm machine for £160.00 an its pretty good. I have friends who have bogu from kendo shop (another korean company) and although it is nice the quality isn't as good. I'd advise anyone to steer clear of tozando they are over priced and the quality is crap, my sensie paid £1,200.00 for a machine stiched kit with bamboo do from tozando it to 8 months to arrive and he was totally disapointed with the quality.

[KhawMengLee]

I got two sets at the moment.

A 4mm set from Moribudo. The dou is a wierd burnished gold colour and the kote are 3mm hand stitched.

The second set is from Koei budogu. 3mm Titanium men, 60 bamboo dou (manji kamon) etc. The kote in really nice but the deerskin is very thin. The kote palm leather on my other set is better.

Still I love both sets. I use the 4mm for training and 3mm for shiai.

[David J]

Originally posted by Atama
I'd advise anyone to steer clear of tozando they are over priced and the quality is crap......

Just to provide an alternate viewpoint....

I bought (in person) from the Tozando store in Kyoto. I picked up a lovely 3mm Men for about £120 and 2mm Tare for £100ish, and a lovely Iaito for £300 (all about half price as they were ex-display), gi, hakama, shinai blah blah

I cant comment on delivery times (obviously), but they were very helpful and I am very, very pleased with the quality. Ok, I got a great deal - they ARE normally pretty pricey, but then Japanese stuff generally is.

Personally, I'd be pretty happy with this:

http://tozando.com/eng/kendo/zh.html

<rei>

Dave

[Hingus]

Jason, I am in Utah as well and train in Ogden. We are all using Kendoshop bogu.

Where are you planing on training?

[scbang]

I have 3mm Kote ( original with my Bogu set ) and 2mm Kote from Kendoshop. There some hard kote hiiting big guys who just learned the skill and so excited to execute no matter how many time I tell them hitting hard is not the point. 2mm kote gives me much better protection from this brutality than 3mm which is pretty soft after 6 years ( 2mm is about 4 years old but still looks brand new except palm leather - so I guess tighter set last longer too ).

SC - No one's safe from 6'5" Yonku :-)

[Dan Shea]

I noticed Atama said he/she wanted white bogu.
Just a minor note on white bogu.
White bogu is primarily worn by women, so unless you are female, be prepared for some strange looks.

Just a thought...

[Ralutin]

I noticed Atama said he/she wanted white bogu.
Just a minor note on white bogu.
White bogu is primarily worn by women, so unless you are female, be prepared for some strange looks.

Just a thought...

While the above statement is true, my kendo sensei (70+ year old male) will wear his white set every now and again. I think he'd give me hell (or worse) if I gave him in his white bogu a strange look! :eek:

[Karaken]

While the above statement is true, my kendo sensei (70+ year old male) will wear his white set every now and again. I think he'd give me hell (or worse) if I gave him in his white bogu a strange look! :eek:
I saw some Korean tournament video where they provide White men for the competitors to help shimpan to identify competitors better ( only one of them wear white men ).

Center

[Dan Shea]

While the above statement is true, my kendo sensei (70+ year old male) will wear his white set every now and again. I think he'd give me hell (or worse) if I gave him in his white bogu a strange look! :eek:
Alot of older kenshin wear all white keikogi and hakama and some wear white bogu. Not sure why, other than that they are extremely good and have been practicing for the majority of their life.

Maybe when I am 70+ I will become enlightened. :)

Thanks for the reply!

[hyuna]

Is the new Hasegawa men with the clear plastic shield instead of metal bars part of anyone's bogu wishlist?

http://www.hasegawakagaku.co.jp/mujun.htm

[Jin-e]

The Hasegawa men . Why would we want that? The old fashion men is great and I have no idea why I should spend money on a piece of plastic. It'll probably condense all of the time and stuff.

[orayakab]

The Hasegawa men . Why would we want that? The old fashion men is great and I have no idea why I should spend money on a piece of plastic. It'll probably condense all of the time and stuff.

Actually I can think of one reason.

I know of one Kendo Sensei's son who is blind or nearly blind in one eye. Should he lose his good eye the results would be tragic....

Orayakab, U.

[-Miburo-]

A bogu which fits me comfortably. Not expensive and the 'do' design looks nice.