Mitsuboshi KOKORO review

[Benji]

This would be my second bogu set
Purcahsed from Miyako (kendo-bogu.com) during a sale
Mitsuboshi KOKORO (same company that makes the MINE or Peak set from Chibabogu)
More of a visual and tactile review if any
coudn't get a "feel" on the bogu cause no practice this week
my first set was a 2.0mm made in korea set maybe a sehyun?...i dunno theres no brand markings on my bogu

lets specs on paper (5.0mm)
Men – IBB Dura Mengane (grille), Choice of ago design, Super Light and cushioned Futon finished with a Fukuronui seam. Diagonal stitching on Men Dare.
Kote – Lightweight Kote, features a special Mitsuboshi wrist-joint, and a specific cut which allows for better handling of the Shinai. Smoked Deerskin palms.
Do – Black Yamato Dodai, top quality Kurozan Mune (chest guard) with choice of design.
Tare – 6 line Kazari decoration, Flexible Hara Obi, Light-weight Futon, Gunome-zashi on Odare and Kodare.
Assembled in japan. dont know where the materials come from


Okay lets start with the men
-IBB Dura mengane. old bogu had a durluminum mengane. ive never seen a mengane break or bend so we'll have to see if balance is better when i use it.
-Diangonal stitching old bogu from straight stitching we'll see if it helps any
-the tsuki pad behind the tsuki target is almost twice as THIN as the old men but a lot more flexible. problem...maybe?
-BIG design differnce here the mendare is 4-6 cm shorter overall than my old men.
-*from the bottom of the tsuki to the end of the men futon when straighted out to be parallel to each other like l l was 13cm on my old men. on the KOKORO this distance was 8cm (will show in pics). dunno what this will do though. makes me wonder how much shorter are the jissen /jissengata set mendare are
- the men futon feels thicker on the kokoro but could just be that the 2mm set is just stiff.
-Uchiwa on my old men looks of better quality scarlet like while the KOKORO one is like a soft fabric.
-KOKORO has less "embroidery" throughout overall less fancy or RBSO like. except neither is RBSO so...
-last thing on the men: cheap leather Men Chichi Kawa in comparison to the sharkskin on the old one. replaceable but just stating what i see
-KOKORO has suede like edges while old one is like leather
-mendare is just as flexible as my broken in 2mm set

Kote
They should seriously call these like ultra superlight devil magic kote or something
-the kote feel ridiculously light compared to my old kote and with a hand gauge of the thinkness, the kote futon is acutally thicker than my old kote's futon. my guess is a lot less deer hair in the fist portion
-better stitch quality is seen easily in the kote
-upgrade to smoked deer skin palms from old cow leather ones. mmm smells like a campfire
-Plain but so are the MINE kote so no real complaints there

Tare
cant tell much
-old tare has more embroidery
-KOKORO tare has better stitch quality
-KOKORO has suede like edges and decoration while old one is like leather
-cant tell if one has more padding than the other
-flexibilty pretty much a toss up too but old tare might just be "broken in." probably better indiction afer use.

DO
disappointed for bogu that retails for close to 1500 USD. basic yamato. ill keep my old 50pc synthetic.

Also Andy at Miyako was probably one of the best online purchasing experiences i had.
email responses in a day or two at the longest probably due to time zone issues and answered every question i had. highly reccommended. And Free Shipping on bogu!!!!


will add pics soon and update review when used/ broken in

[lezics]

Thanks for sharing this info! I'm also interested in this bogu set, so I'm really curious how it perfomed in your keiko. Could you please make an update as soon as you tried it?

[atgm]

What was wrong with the do?

[Benji]

no real problem with the do...its just its a one piece yamato not a 50pc synthetic like my old one. actually the mune itself looks of better quality than my old do.
and just tried it in keiko this week. kote is slightly uncomfortable but expected until completely broken in. ULTRA LIGHT
kinda seems like sweat stains might be an issue compared to my other men. or it could just be the three days of keiko i randomly ran into this week.
so i have to remember to wipe out the men after keiko, let it dry out compltely, and rotate men

[tagonagy]

I plan on getting a second pair of Kote. Does the Kokoro's wrist joint help you with holding your shinai properly?

[Benji]

well the thing is i believe that a lot of products like kendo equipment is at lot of umm...marketing. the wrist joint may or may not have made a difference cannot really tell. but i believe the significant things that are protection is better than my old kote,its a helluvalot lighter, and i properly "broke it in" according to this

http://www.chibabogu.com/catalog/inf...nfo_id=14#kote

our local dojos had back to back tournaments this august so i can quote that the protection is more than adequeate
personally if i were to buy something now i would probably have asked andy from miyako if he could sell the kote from his 3.5 bu "workhorse set" that just came out.

and i resaying for sure.this bogu has slight sweat stain issues. can be easily taken out but just saying. everything else seems outstanding.

[Ludwig]

Mitsuboshi Kokoro is my very first bogu. Though I'm just a begginner, I've used a friend's bogu more than once and I can tell Mitsuboshi Kokoro's kote is a hell lot more confortable (and I'm not talking about the size). Can't really say anything about the wrist joint thing, but the inside of the kote is so soft that some of my sempais are calling it "velvet bogu" for laughs!

Maybe it's just me, but my Men gets wet rather quickly (on the outside too). Not a real issue as the sweat can be wiped away just as easily.

[b8amack]

Sehyun has brand markings. It's weird that your first set came with same (even fake same) chichikawa. That's not something you should expect standard.

[Benji]

well if thats the case im probably gonna guess its a kendoshop 2mm set. all i see on my set really is a bunch of made in korea tags on each piece of the bogu set

[jd111]

I plan on getting a second pair of Kote. Does the Kokoro's wrist joint help you with holding your shinai properly?

Tried a pair of these in a bogu shop in tokyo. they were pretty good, wouldnt be supprised if this type of joint is standard in future.

the kote is shapped so that twisting your wrists is much much easier. other kote would be stiff and restrictive for a few months, but these make your hands automaticaly go to the correct position. at 250 euros they are expensive. but, could be worth it!
if you look at the picture on this page you can see the difference in shape between regualr kote. such a simple inovation!

http://www.kendo-bogu.com/product_p/060-m06303.htm

[Fuji]

Benji
can you write new review of kokoro after 5 months?

[Benji]

1 year UPDATE

Men hasn't gone much use as I'd due to geographic reasons but I have been using it a lot lately (past couple months) and can say, it still fits like a glove. awesome!
Men Protection wasn't as good as i remember it being but i am training with some taller ppl than when i first got the set. and.... w/e right its keiko. DEAL WITH IT hahahahaha
Men is much less "echoy"? than the MIK set.
Salt stain issue still persists
Clarino has a different sort of "bogu funk" smell than leather. any comments on this?

Kote are still awesome. twice maybe three times a week of use over the last year
Could use a bit more protection.
The palms still smell smoky. Not good not bad just saying.

Tare:i mean its tare pretty much self explanatory
DO: its being used as backup cause my first ones still fine.

Overall the fit is amazing and would recommend it to ppl who generally fit pretty well into off the shelf bogu sizes.