First Time in Bogu

[Old Warrior]

I showed up at practice tonight and was told that my Bogu had arrived. I felt like a kid being advised that his new bike was in the garage. I was desperately trying to recall all the pictures in my brain of how to put everything on, especially that darn hat you fold up from the cotton headband. I could feel my heart beating with the excitement of actually fitting in with the rest of the class, but first I had to figure out how to get the stuff on. Someone was sent over to help but he was somewhat inept himself. The Master came over and showed me how to get on the headgear and made sure it was tied tight. Now I was ready for class.

The first sensation was my inability to hear the commands. When I put on the gloves it seemed as if all the work I had done to date was for naught. They were so stiff I couldn't pick up the shinai and when I was able to get it into my hands, it felt as strange as the first time I picked it up. I seemed completely disoriented and disconnected with the environment. My peripheral vision was completely gone and people appeared to be sneaking up on me. I began to sweat profusely and my new prescription Kendo glasses began to fog up.

We start our class with ten reps of 3 step strikes to the head, wrist and waist. On command, I was ready to knock them out with my best imperfect form. One problem arose. The wings on the head gear were so stiff I couldn't raise my hands over my head; which made it a little hard to show off my best Kendo cut. The Master saw my predicament and couldn't hold back a laugh as he pulled up the wings to the side of my head to free up my arms. Even then, the wings acted like resistence weights and the basic warm-up exercises were wearing me out fast. The armor was getting heavier by the moment and my usual snail like foot work seemed lightning fast compared to my new slow motion steps.

When I walked by the mirror I was mortified. Our uniforms are all white with a black stripe down the pants. My shoulders were now blue. My hands were blue. My uniform was covered with blue fingerprints and I looked like I was wearing a polka dot clown outfit. I didn't look fit for the serious business at hand.

Everything I tried was too slow and I felt so awkward it was as if the last 4 months, 3 days a week were for naught. I'm exhausted and even this typing is taking more energy than I can spare. All I can say is - I can't wait for tomorrow. I know I'll do better.

[scbang]

You must have bought an expensive ( so stiff and protective ) bogu :-)

Make sure to tie your men wing folded with himo. It's like breaking in a new baseball glove. It takes a while to take a shape then it'll all feel like part of your body. Especially Men and Kote.

SC

[Critical_Bill]

hehe, it'll all be good in a month or so :)
i'm breaking in my new armor myself, hehe, so i know where you're comin from :)

[aru-ma]

I'm not so sure about this but my senpai told me that when you buy a brand new set of bogu you shouldnt use it for practice straight away, instead masage the stiff bits a little, especially the kote, and make the wings on the men more relaxed so it wont feel so restrictive. the advise made sense to me so I'll probably do that when I buy my own bogu.

[heri0n]

haha fun story ^^
well here's a manual for bogu and shinai that tells u how to take care of it and stuff ^^ happy reading
and good luck in the bogu

http://www6.big.or.jp/~budogu/yougu_e.html

[ben]

Nice story OW. IYAM the blue stains are punishment for wearing white. ;)

b

[Lukas]

Hello everyone - my first post on this forum.

Old Warrior, I got the same problem as I finally decided to get my own bogu (Tozando, nice stuff) and give back club's 4-generations-sweated-bogu :puzzled:

Knowing that there might be problems, I tried bogu straight away as I received it - at home - to avoid problems in dojo if something doesn't fit. And that was good idea!
Men was so stiff and Men wings were inclined downwards so it really disabled my arms' movements.
What I did is I sprayed some water onto men so that it became a little wet (just as it does during keiko) tied it (as you tie it on your head) and then "broke" wings so that they overlapped on mengane and then I tied them in this position and let the Men dry. After some hours I again spray some water onto this tied Men and repeated that a few times.

Next day when I untied and try Men on, it was still little stiff (and still it is!) but wings are now nicely uplifted and my ears don't hurt after a few minutes

Did the same thing with tare so it is not that "straight" and stiff.

Hope that will help you
Best regards
Lukas

[Steve]

I have read that before you wear your bogu you must break it in first. I didn't when i got my first set, and it was hell. Then, after i thought it was broken in, i read how to properly break it in, and followed those instructions. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!

Take the time to break in your gear properly, it makes a huge difference.

These instructions were from a Korean Sensei.

Men: Tie your "wings" pulled up and forward onto the men-gane. The crease of the wings should be close to your jaw line. Wetting the wings helps a bit. Store them in this way until they are broken in.

Before you tie it up the first time, crease the wings as if you were about to tie them 500 times on each wing

Kote: Grab the "fist" of the kote in one hand, and the hard forarm part in the other. bend the fist back / forward / left / right and then in a circular motion. the "creasing" here should occur at the wrist. It is recommended that you do this at least 500 times on each kote before use! I did it on my new kote, and what a difference!! its worth the time!

Tare: roll each flap of the tare up like a newspaper. Then flip the tare over and roll each one up again. 500 times on each.

[Old Warrior]

Today, my glasses fogged up so bad I couldn't see anything. I tried blowing air at them but it didn't work. There has to be a better solution.

A 4' tall, ten year old kid with 6 stripes on his sleeve, took a full swing at Hori and missed, hitting me just above the armor under the arm. It stung like hell, but I was too embarrassed to show any pain. The little twerp hits like a truck. And I was worried I might hurt him. Wait till next class, I think I'll hammer him like a cheap nail.

I had enough trouble understanding the difference between mori and hori without armor. Now I find myself screaming over and over "did he say mori or hori?" I think I'll contribute money to a local school for the hearing impared - I becomming very sympathetic.

I still feel so slow and awkward. I think I must have gotten lead armor. It could be a communist plot to stop me from getting good enough to beat the kids.

Finally, you know you are dumb when the Master comes over and takes off your little cotton hat and tells you its on backwards. I don't know, both sides looked the same to me.

[nodachi]

Try and get contacts or get by without glasses if possible. It will make your life much easier and the men might fit a lot nicer without glasses digging into your head.

As for being embarrassed about your smurf hat being backwards, don't sweat it. Those things are a pain in the butt. They give me so much trouble. Practice putting on the stupid little hat just like anything else until you get it nice and quick.

We all look like clutzes and fools when we first put on bogu so just check your embarrassment at the door. It is no big deal and everyone who has been through that should understand.

[scbang]

OW, I received my first Bogu on the day I had promotion test. Everyone said I can't do that but either that or I had to wait another year to get any rank. So I did it. I had some trouble but not as much as what you're describing. So I'm curious what type of Bogu you bought and from where. Mine was 3mm machine made from Japan .
SC

[Old Warrior]

scbang:

I belong to Sung Moo Kumdo Academy; which is owned and run by Jin Kyu Seong 7th Dan. There is no strict rule but it is the custom that when the Master feels you are ready, he orders the Hogu for you. I'm sure there is a financial benefit to the school, but considering the fact that he measures you, orders it and accepts responsibility if it is not right - it's surely worth it. The youngsters get 3 choices - $350, $450 or $550. Since I am over 6" tall and weigh 230lbs, I got no choice - it was $550. I will take a look for the brand name and let you know.

Last night I watched a tape of the 1999 SBS Kumdo finals from Korea. it was the first time I ever saw so much quality fencing, at one time. What was most amazing to me was that the demonstrations of technique were shown exactly the way we practice in class. And while the announcers were speaking Korean, every technique they commented upon was exactly the way its described in class. Hey, what can I say, small things amaze me.

[ben]

Differs from my experience too. I was training for about three months before I got to wear bogu, and that was a stinky old club bogu that I hired. Advantage was that it was already broken in and flexible. I was shodan going on nidan before I finally bought my first bogu, by which stage the stiffness didn't really worry me. It was a US$1000 armour bought direct from the factory in Kumamoto, so it fitted pretty well from the word go. I never had to fight with it, I just put it on and fought with it. (hur! :))

"There is no strict rule but it is the custom that when the Master feels you are ready, he orders the Hogu for you. I'm sure there is a financial benefit to the school, but considering the fact that he measures you, orders it and accepts responsibility if it is not right - it's surely worth it."

Hmm...

b

[Steve]

Old warrior: do you mean you watched the SBS presidents cup? I have the 1999,2001, and 2002 on CD. They are great! Koreans are so aggressive...all the time! they're like kendo machines!

As for the target names, the "Men" is pronounced more as
"M-oh-ree" and the "Do" is "Hah-ree" listen closely to the first bit of the pronounciation and you'll get it in no time.

I wear glasses to. I usually just take them off when i put my men on, but i recently got contacts. Mine are disposables, and cost $75 for a 6 month supply. The 6 months is if you wear each pair 12 hours a day, everyday. Since i use 'em only for Kendo they'll last a long time.

Last but not least, it will take some time to adjust to your bogu. When i first put mine on, the men-gane made combined with no glasses caused me to lose all depth perception. I would try to strike a men target from about 3 feet too far out of range, or about 3 feet too close! scary....

[scbang]

OW - Mine was delivered by my Sensei too but he didn't make that decision I did. Judging that I paid $1,000 for 3mm machine made - Yes there must be some financial gain. But when you start Kendo, you don't know where to go what to do to buy stuff ( Shinai, Bogu etc.. ) so I paid $40 for Korean made Shinai ( which sells for $13-$25 ) but hey, It was easy and no shipping charges.

Ben, I think this practice of acquiring everything Kendo from your sensei is quite common and especially for Kumdo Dojos, I believe most of them are "For Profit" run by professional senseis. It's for profit as well as for the convenience of pupils and strongly encouraged..

SC

[chidokan]

regarding the blue stripes.... now you know why the japanese kendoka wear blue gi!!!
Anyone know enough to tell the difference between Kumdo and Kendo ( apart from using korean or japanese words..:rolleyes: )? I would be interested in finding out as there are only kendo dojos here.

Tim Hamilton

[Old Warrior]

I'll bet the only difference between Kendo and Kumdo is the ethnocentric feelings of the practitioners. The Kprean Master who teaches me is not old enough to have endured the pain of the 1940's and he frequently uses the Japanese word for things and even once, on the lone occasion that I did a particular technique correctly, gave me a thumbs up and called me "Samurai". From everything I have read, we do everything the exact same way that is it described by students of Japanese Sensei.

[chidokan]

You're probably right, it'll be just translated into korean words. No doubt all the techniques are the same as the armour looks like mine as well....


I prefer: Your pen, my sword, outside now!

Tim Hamilton

[calpaladin]

Both originate from the late 19th-early 20th century, when the various Japanese sword schools were united and the rules codified (Meiji era). However, there are major differences that arose during the post-World War II era.

During the American occupation, the Japanese kendo rules and attacks were even more codified so that those all throughout Japan - from the extremem north in Hokkaido, to the south in Kyushu and Okinawa - would learn exactly the same way. There were rule changes to - it was made "less violent" and more of a sport, with strict rules and formations.

These were made at the urging of the occupying American forces. General McArthur was said to have freaked out after a pre-reformed Kendo demonstration, saying that this is the kind of violent stuff that needed to be eliminated from Japanese culture....fortunately they didn't eradicate it all.

Korean kumdo rules retained a lot of the older, Meiji era rules and attacks, and also, a lot of the various masters have incorporated the older Korean sword attacks and forms (which is typical for most - martial arts as a whole is very chaotic as someone could just form his own "school" and developed one's one "style" and it'll last as long as one kicks ass).

However, in the last 20 years, the Korean kumdo schools have also adopted the Japanese reforms, in order to help spread kendo/kumdo further and faster. So, aside from language differences, the basic principles are the same. Also, a lot of the commands, names, and such share the same chinese characters (kanji or hanja).

Interestingly enough, the older Japanese kendo dojos in California used to retain the Meiji era rules. However, the older generation is slowly dying off and the newer generation has adopted the post-WW2 Japanese kendo reforms.

Now, to bring this thread somewhat back on topic, the armor used by the Korean and Japanese schools are also a bit different - Korean armor is much, much more thicker (reflecting the speed+strength school of thought) than the Japanese armor. I cannot stress how much a difference this makes.

Since I went to school in Northern California, I trained mostly at Japanese kendo dojos and got the bogu for kendo. Not only that, my set happens to be very thin (yeah, it's a cheap way of being quicker and keeping up my endurance).

When I went to the dojangs in Seoul, my god, I got my ass handed to me. The way there were hitting, I thought they were going out of their ways to be assholes until someone asked why my armor was so thin.

[Alan03]

Today, my glasses fogged up so bad I couldn't see anything. I tried blowing air at them but it didn't work. There has to be a better solution.

That's what happened to me when I first started. The better solution are contact lenses.