Light weight bokuto

[tantadi]

I just purchased a light weight beech bokuto. It is really lighter than my white oak(?) and feels more balanced. Are there any good reasons to not use a light weight bokuto for kendo kata and suburi?

[rottunpunk]

if the person you are training with has a chunky bokken it can leave yours with bashy denty bits.
depends how hard they are cutting and how resilient the wood is though.
try to pair up with someone who has a lightweight bokken as well
:p

[Wormaap]

Well, I don't know a whole lot about this 'n stuff, but yesterday my housemate got his boken, and it felt about 1.5-2 times as heavy as our shinai. After swinging it all day long, I picked up my shinai and suddenly I was twice as fast :P

[don don]

I was once strongly recommended to use a very light bokuto to improve my suburi. It helps to take the strength out of the cut. I think it was great advice.

[Optomitrist]

You can see errors in your swing if you do suburi infront a mirror with a lighter weight bokuto. So your flaws will stick out.

[tantadi]

Thansk for the advice. I'm glad to hear that a light bokuto will be good for my technique.

[LarsCW]

I understood that the oval shape of the bokken also would help with tenouchi. Is this correct?

[tantadi]

That is what I've heard. The shape will offer more control esp. when it comes
non straight cuts. But also because the surface of the tsuka touching the hands are greater.