Marking Kendo-gear (bogu and shinai/bokuto)

[groms]

yoda-wasa, do you mean kanji that does not have anything to do with my name? An earlier post suggested that it would not be appropriate for non-japanese to write their names in kanji, so... that would be a good solution, finding something that represents my relationship to kendo. Well, I think I need a lot more experiance and reflection on kendo to make that genuine. Personally I also think kanji is more decorative than katakana, but both look right to me, compared to my native written name.

Also, by "branding" I mean marking the shinai/bokuto with kanji or katakana with a soldering iron or similar, as was suggested in previous posts on this forum. It would look similar to the characters already on the shinai when you buy it. (There are probably some here who can tell if this works by personal experiance)

[ben]

Surely this is what's important? What's the point of naming your stuff if people can't read it?

Even if they can't read it, they'll know it's not theirs, which is the point. This was the origin of written language: symbols that gained meaning through attachment to a particular context.

It might also inspire someone to learn a little Japanese, expanding their horizons and thus removing from the word another monolinguist. Which is always a good thing.

b

[kartoffelngeist]

Don't know how well the soldering iron works, but I've seen it done with the proper tool (name's went right out of my head...) and it looks pretty cool.
Mine is engraved quite lightly in katakana. It would just look strange to have it in roman letters, imo.

[ben]

Above I meant to say "remove from the world". Obviously.

b

[groms]

"Even if they can't read it, they'll know it's not theirs, which is the point."

Yes, exactly.
Also, one of the points that I think are not answered directly in previous posts about marking shinai and bokuto, is if it´s allright to place the mark on the "blade" side, just above the tsuba (left or right). This is where katana are stamped or marked by maker or owner, isn´t it? My logic says that it´s the right place also for shinai and bokuto, but I´m not sure if that´s correct.

And about asking sensei, that goes without saying if I´m going to do it. But I don´t want to bother him with every question I have about kendo, and I´d also like more than one opinion. That´s what this forum is for, isn´t it?

[bullet08]

"Even if they can't read it, they'll know it's not theirs, which is the point."

Yes, exactly.
Also, one of the points that I think are not answered directly in previous posts about marking shinai and bokuto, is if it´s allright to place the mark on the "blade" side, just above the tsuba (left or right). This is where katana are stamped or marked by maker or owner, isn´t it? My logic says that it´s the right place also for shinai and bokuto, but I´m not sure if that´s correct.

And about asking sensei, that goes without saying if I´m going to do it. But I don´t want to bother him with every question I have about kendo, and I´d also like more than one opinion. That´s what this forum is for, isn´t it?

i think the marking should be on the tsuka, not on the blade. i almost always get my gear with my name on them, unless the service is not available. the bokken i got sometime ago, the name was on the handle and not on the blade side. i also see people putting name on their tsukagawa on shinai.

pete

[groms]

"the bokken i got sometime ago, the name was on the handle and not on the blade side."

Thanks. Where on the handle? Left side, close to tsuba?

[bullet08]

"the bokken i got sometime ago, the name was on the handle and not on the blade side."

Thanks. Where on the handle? Left side, close to tsuba?

it's been awhlle since i picked up that bokken. i know it's closer to tsuba, but not sure which side it's on. if i remember it later today, i'll take a look.

pete

[groms]

thanks, I appreciate it.

[tango]

Well, call me pretentious if you will, but to me it feels more "right" with japanese characters on japanese equipment. As mentioned, everything about kendo is japanese. I have my signature on some of my equipment now, and it doesn´t look right to me. Moreover, my name has 12 characters, against 4 japanese characters, so it takes less space (allthough that argument is easily countered since my initials have 2 )
And even though most people at my dojo can´t read japanese (me neither for that matter), I´ll know which shinai along the wall is mine.
Mostly though, as I said, it´s for the want to personalize my gear. It´s for me to read, not everybody else.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Is kanji og katakana most appropriate? My name in katakana translates into 4 "letters" or signs if that´s better. Maybe kanji has fewer signs? So, the natural follow-up question is...: Would anyone knowing japanese be helpful in finding a kanji-translation for my name? My first name is Gunnar, translates to "gunnaru" in katakana, at least.

I know a guy whose last name is "White".
He ordered a zekken and wanted his name in kanji, so, they sent him a zekken with 白 on it...

Now his name reads "Shiro"... instead of "White".

Think about it.

Stick with katakana and forget about the kanji.
My 2 cents.

[namabiru]

Well, you can use either kanji -or- katakana -or- roman letters. I have a kanji for my first name, but the first one has a lot of strokes so would end up in a blob if I wrote it with a permanent marker. Marking shinai with your name on the bottom of the tsuka, near your tsuba, is the norm in Japan. Or your initials is fine. Or your first initial is cool too. I marked my first bokken with a 'J' and circle around it.

Equipment. Yeah, you can get tags made for your stuff. Mine are katakana, but that was before I had a kanji, and once again it's quite the norm to label people's things in Japan so that service was always gratis. A Do could have a mailing label with your name stuck inside, that would work.

You know how you can get iron-on patches to repair holes in clothing? I wonder how that would work as a sort of label for your men/kote. Get a blue color which would match fairly close and keep the labels small. Any thoughts?

So Gunnar, huh? Well, maybe I could come up with a kanji for you for fun when I want to think about Japanese. I know mine's a great source of pride, as my kendo friends helped me 'name' myself.

[enkorat]

Hey all,

I posted this link before but its a pretty nice article on wikipedia about Japanese naming conventions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_names

The reality of naming is a bit more convoluted, much like many other parts of Japanese culture.

As for marking equipment, it does become an issue once people start competing and grading, especially during things like lunch where 200+ people all take off their black dohs, and when you go looking for your equipment its a sea of nearly identical pieces of equipment. After my shodan exam, someone took my bokuto and left behind theirs. I wasn't too happy since it was a gift from a sensei from my club who had gone back to Japan. In the past I've also accidentally grabbed the wrong men while getting ready to line up, and a friend of mine had his new men taken during a break during a day long seminar where someone else had to leave before the end of practice.

People I know generally write their names or initials on the tsukagawa, in the middle between where the hands go, since if you write stuff where the hands go it rubs off within a few weeks. Generally most people in my club write their name in English because the majority of people in our club speak English. A Japanese student in our club wrote his last name in huge letters pretty much the entire length of the tsuka, in English. He's since graduated and left, but left his shinai behind. We've recycled that tsuka on other shinai and we joke that its become sort of a "Excalibur tsukagawa". I've written my name in Japanese on some of my shinai and its led to confusion when I've loaned them out to beginners because they had no idea what it said.

There are these custom woodbranding kits you can by to burn designs into wood, and its theoretically possible to "brand" your shinai with a small mark in the same position where a lot of more expensive shinai makers put the model name, though getting a custom brand made is around 100 dollars and as of yet I know of no person or club that had done so. I personally wouldn't invest that much mainly because a sharpie pen costs a dollar, my shinai don't last that long and I try not to get attached or overly reliant on one particular shinai.

[groms]

Ok, thanks all. Good points, all taken. Guess I´ll go with katakana, it seems most appropriate. But still, if namabiru, or anyone else for that matter, should happen to want to translate my name to kanji anyway, I´d be much abliged. It would be nice to see what it would be. My full name is Gunnar Gjerde, by the way. (the norwegian word "gjerde" means "fence", it that helps any..)

[ben]

You sometimes have to be careful of seemingly inoffensive kanji that may, unbeknownst to you, carry some nasty cultural baggage.

For instance I saw a pic on some blog of an attractive young American (female) tourist in China wearing a tshirt with a single character on it, the character for "chicken". The commentary from the Chinese blogger was that this woman obviously didn't know that "chicken" was commonly slang for "prostitute".

BTW I loved that wiki link above, thanks Enkorat. I particularly the cleverness of turning "Edgar Allan Poe" into "Edogawa Ranpo"! Brilliant!

b

[namabiru]

Ha ha ha, yeah, it's kind of like how you'll see people in Asia wearing clothing with nonsensical English (http://www.engrish.com for a laugh), but then again you'll see people walking around with kanji that makes no sense, but because it "looks cool".

Now, one thing that can happen is a western name might have to be bent to fit kanji. That's what the link says, and I can attest. My name is Jessica, but my kanji reading is 'jishika', which is a sort of bend on my katakana of jeshika, but as people may know there is no 'je' kanji in Japanese.

Gunnar, though, may be doable in 3 kanji, using the katakana of gun-na-ru, but I don't think I'll find a good kanji with the reading of 'gun'. The two 'gun' I can think of right off-hand, one means 'county' and the other is the 'gun' you'd see in 'military'. Neither of which is appropriate for a name, I think you'd agree. However, maybe we can do something with gu-na-ru. Not quite your name, I know, but it would be fairly close.

Let me see here.