Keith Hong
2nd February 2005, 03:18 PM
Okay. Some people I know play golf and take joy in acquiring and maintaining new clubs and stuff. My father-in-law spends a set amount of time each week cleaning and otherwise taking care of his golfing gear.
In the same spirit, I have bought and maintained my bogu, shinai and keiko-gi(hakama included) with care. Recently, though, I have had a hanker on for a new set of bogu. No, not a ultra-expensive handmade set with hand-lacquered bamboo do.
I go on weekends to Dongdaemun and elsewhere to visit Korean bogu stores.
It's become a hobby of sorts. Some people go bird watching - I go bogu watching. It's gotten so I can rule out the really crappy stuff and get some sense of the material and craftsmanship involved.
That's why it was sad to learn that the bogu-ya that I bought my present bogu from, Sangmoo-sa, went out of business. Apparently the owner(who was an old man in 2001) retired and closed shop. The old man and his father had learned the craft in Japan before 1945 and had been in business for over 50 years.
Most of the other shops lack that sort of qualification and tradition. Also, I suspect that most of these newer stores, though claiming to carry 100% Korean wares, source their stuff from sweatshops in China. Which is not a problem, provided there are stringent quality assurance measures.
From what I've heard, some of the big Korean names in bogu that boast large 'circulation' of their products sell their stuff to so many customers not because of universal recognition of their quality but because of outstanding marketing(dojo - kendo store alliance involving kickback and stuff, I suspect).
The point is, of all the kendo stores I've visited, only one bothered to actually measure the front-to back circumference of my head and the level of my eyes(the distance from chin tip to pupil). All the other stores just measured the chin-to-crown circumfence of my head, brought out a men from storage they thought would suit me - a very pret-a-porter approach, I thought.
The owner of this one store(estabilshed in 1972) recommended a 2mm machine-stitched set with deerskin kote(palm and fist) upgrade as a good combination for me with regards to price versus performance. I examined the bogu - it seemed of very good quality indeed.
Detailed measurements(including monomi height) were taken. After measuring my head, it was decided that my men would have to be custom-made(I have a very large head and freakishly short legs) - at no extra charge. All that for 486 dollars(by current won-dollar exchange rates.
I am finally getting to the point.
When I mentioned that my current men feels very front-heavy, the owner said an IBB titanium mengane could be used to improve the balace. The extra cost involved would be 145 dollars.
The owner's rationale for placing an IBB titanium mengane on a mere machine-stitched bogu set was that a 2mm set is a perfectly good, actually very good, set of bogu that I could use for a long, long time. I was told that I shouldn't feel obliged to switch to a hand-made set so many years later as a matter of course.
So, what do you think? Go for the IBB or is it overkill?
Thank you for patiently reading this rambling post. I will be looking forward to your input.
In the same spirit, I have bought and maintained my bogu, shinai and keiko-gi(hakama included) with care. Recently, though, I have had a hanker on for a new set of bogu. No, not a ultra-expensive handmade set with hand-lacquered bamboo do.
I go on weekends to Dongdaemun and elsewhere to visit Korean bogu stores.
It's become a hobby of sorts. Some people go bird watching - I go bogu watching. It's gotten so I can rule out the really crappy stuff and get some sense of the material and craftsmanship involved.
That's why it was sad to learn that the bogu-ya that I bought my present bogu from, Sangmoo-sa, went out of business. Apparently the owner(who was an old man in 2001) retired and closed shop. The old man and his father had learned the craft in Japan before 1945 and had been in business for over 50 years.
Most of the other shops lack that sort of qualification and tradition. Also, I suspect that most of these newer stores, though claiming to carry 100% Korean wares, source their stuff from sweatshops in China. Which is not a problem, provided there are stringent quality assurance measures.
From what I've heard, some of the big Korean names in bogu that boast large 'circulation' of their products sell their stuff to so many customers not because of universal recognition of their quality but because of outstanding marketing(dojo - kendo store alliance involving kickback and stuff, I suspect).
The point is, of all the kendo stores I've visited, only one bothered to actually measure the front-to back circumference of my head and the level of my eyes(the distance from chin tip to pupil). All the other stores just measured the chin-to-crown circumfence of my head, brought out a men from storage they thought would suit me - a very pret-a-porter approach, I thought.
The owner of this one store(estabilshed in 1972) recommended a 2mm machine-stitched set with deerskin kote(palm and fist) upgrade as a good combination for me with regards to price versus performance. I examined the bogu - it seemed of very good quality indeed.
Detailed measurements(including monomi height) were taken. After measuring my head, it was decided that my men would have to be custom-made(I have a very large head and freakishly short legs) - at no extra charge. All that for 486 dollars(by current won-dollar exchange rates.
I am finally getting to the point.
When I mentioned that my current men feels very front-heavy, the owner said an IBB titanium mengane could be used to improve the balace. The extra cost involved would be 145 dollars.
The owner's rationale for placing an IBB titanium mengane on a mere machine-stitched bogu set was that a 2mm set is a perfectly good, actually very good, set of bogu that I could use for a long, long time. I was told that I shouldn't feel obliged to switch to a hand-made set so many years later as a matter of course.
So, what do you think? Go for the IBB or is it overkill?
Thank you for patiently reading this rambling post. I will be looking forward to your input.