Is this for real?

[KhawMengLee]

Heh, more E-bay delights:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3601394824&category=310

Is this for real? Kendo MEN looking like this? Anyone care to confrim this or did someone just stick chickenwire on a fencing mask?

:D :D :D
MENG

[xvikingx]

I don't know much about vintage kendo equipment, but that looks like an excellent way to get tetanus.

[Inouye02]

hey meng , i highly doubt those are kendo vintage mens, i have seen bogu from the 40's 50's and they didnt look like that ...

[mingshi]

These were the ones they used for Shinai-Kyogi in the immediate post-war years... As you may know "Sports Kendo" was promoted due to the Budo-ban in that period, people practiced Shinai-Kyogi, a combination of Kendo and Western Fencing. (Which, not surprisingly, armour pieces were also intergrated)

Check KW's Issue #1 on the History of Bogu. I suppose you'll get the same info.

Here's a small picture from Kendo Nippn's Kendo History page:

http://skijournal.co.jp/kendo/mame/m_images/h-7.gif

Thanks to Ebay, we all have a chance to see that piece of history close-up.

:)

[m_french]

It looks more like a modified pasta strainer bent around an umpires mask.:beard:

[titus]

I'd agree with mengshi.

The neck guards are definitely taken right off Western fencing face masks. And the fine mesh looks like old-school fencing masks I've seen, looks like they just added the bigger holes in the center for kendo visibility.

[Inouye02]

thanks for the info mingshi

[Chusan]

These eBay-masks look very similar to a certain type of German Student Fencing (Schlagerfechten) equipment. This is used in academic fencing and is as far as I know, only practised in Germany and Austria. The particular masks seem to be so called ochsenkopf(s) , as being masks for academic sabre-fencing which is only done in Austria, using the heavy sabre (not the olympic fencing sabre, but a heavy blade and an elaborate hilt).
So I think these things are Austrian Sabre Maks from an academic corporation, probably self-made by an active student-fencer or one of those lots of suppliers manufacturing these kind of things. Seems to be about thirty years old or somewhat older, not valuable and not for practical use anymore. Not worth bidding to my opinion, not even for their original purpose (they seem to be not very functional because of the gasps in the face). :-(

[KhawMengLee]

heres a couple more delights from ebay:

This one looks like the MEN used in chanbara-

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2519470063&category=20084

No comment-:confused:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2920353282&category=1469

[Tato]

Oh my.... ! :eek:

Rei

[Shelgeyr]

Must....Not.....Bid....!

LOL

[emitbrownne]

I've seen these type of Men used for Karate training on old photos... it was before the invention of dipped foam and other plastic derivitives.......

still like them though :)