Quality of Sehyun bogu?

[Andoru]

I've gone through the forums about Sehyun. So far I haven't noticed any bad comments about Sehyun's bogus, though only 2 people (JSchmidt and Atama) have recommended its hand-stitched bogus. I am also aware that Sehyun is also one of the top Korean bogu maker.

However, I wonder why their hand-stitched bogus are so cheap compared to Japanese made ones. Especially this: 1 bu hand-stitch bogu for only US$1,280?! I've read comments about how economic factors such as lower overheads etc mean cheaper bogus in Korea, but that comment hasn't been corroborated (yet).

Why is it so cheap? Am I missing something?

If you own a Sehyun bogu, or seen/felt/wore one, I invite you to post your reviews/comments about its quality. Constructive posts only please.

Domo arigato gozaimashita!

[Bleda]

well it is very true that korean made bogu are priced lower because of significantly lower overhead costs when compared to japan (they can pay their employees less, lower taxes etc).

[Andoru]

Thank you Bleda.

Taken from Sehyun's website:

"Working in partnership with a sister company in Japan, we enjoy a good reputation at home and aboard.We are able to provide such good prices owing to our factory in China, which we established a decade ago."

[Andoru]

Bleda - by the way, are you generalising or do you know that as a fact?

[lucian]

Sehyun bougu is great, I warn you now I could go on for a while

So short story /long story



Short story:

They are the muts nuts! Seriously I am as happy as sex-staved dog that just licked a viagra & found a soft pillow, just trust me on that one its one happy dog

----------------------



Long story:

I had a custom suit made in around 3 weeks and shipped to my house in 3days

They knew I needed a new suit fast and bent over backwards to help me, while on their summer holiday

There was not stitch out of place and is just as good as my old run of the mil Japanese suit which probably came from Korea or China anyway

The Kote actually fit my hands like a second skin



Dealing with Sehyun is easy their English is not very good, it seemed they were writing straight from a dictionary

But they handled my order perfectly, and fast unlike Eurobogu & Ninecircles, E-bogu (who screw up in English & German)

Personally I only deal with Sehyun and Japanese companies now



It would make sense that they are cheaper because of country economics but it’s certainly not because of quality of the goods

When they shipped my bougu to me, they listed its value as $100

They were either very honest about the cost of materials or were doing me a big favour on tax

That just made me smile more when the posty only wanted 30 quid off me, I was dreading it turning up and having to pay a couple of hundred



As they say in their web site they work closely with a sister company in Japan, so I would not be surprised to find some Sehyun bougu with a made in Japan sticker on it

They probably make a nice profit from importing to Japan since the price of 3mm bougu doubles,



I know it seems dodgy I mean come on who ever heard of buying something cheap for kendo that is good quality? But Sehyun actually do it



My kit is 3mm and was for a fast replacement, in all honesty I thought it was going to be a pile of crap I was more than pleasantly surprised with the quality but it almost too good to get my arse slapped across the dojo in



For the price of their bougu you can afford new set every year… (hand stitched one that is :> ) and all other kit for iai etc and still save money to add a sexy Dou from these guy’s http://www.kk-sanbu.com



I think they are worth it, after all the only real items worth buying for Japanese craftsmanship are shinken

[Andoru]

Thanks for your comments. Have you used Japanese bogu before? If you have, can you compare them and let us know what you think?

[Bleda]

Well i don't know specifically for sehyun but its a pretty well known business fact about korean companies. Also it seems you found your answer with seyhun being in china thats a significantly cheaper place to manufacture goods when compared to Japan.

[JSchmidt]

Ah, I didnt recommend it's handstitched bogus, I recommended the machinestitched .
Bang for bucks, it's extremly hard to beat.
Kote got pretty worn out after 3 years, so they were replaced with Japanese handstitched (1.2), which are far superior quality.
Men,do, tare are still going strong, although I'll probably replace the men with a Japanese handstitched again sometimes this year.

Jakob

[Andoru]

Jakob: I stand corrected. Thanks for your comments

[AlexM]

Here's a review of mine (which is a machine stiched):

Bought in mid-march 2003 from Sehyun Kumdo, model #250 (replaced the standard men with a machine-stiched titanium one in set no.210), 2.5/3.0 mm. I practice about 2-3 times a week.

Men: Fits perfectly, no complaints. Fits really well actually for a machine-stiched set. I've had to replace the men-himo though.
Kote: Fit perfectly, nice stif leather. Don't know how long the deer leather will last... A small hole has appeared on the thumb of the left kote... that's it so far.
Tare: Seems okay, how does one judge tare??? (i.e. I didn't care too much about the tare)
Dou: My dou (fake bamboo) actually has colour to it: A very dark blue that is so dark as to be almost black (D-27 if you're curious.. although they list it as "green" uzzled: ). If you don't look at it directly it looks black. Anyway, I have noticed that the paint is chipping off a bit in some places (strangely enough around the stomach area and not the typical "hit spot"). No gigantic paint chips falling off, just small spots. This just reveals a black base under the paint.
My dou did crack recently though. When I say crack I mean a great, big chunk of a piece fell off. I emailed Sehyun and they said to send the mune (the leather part above the plastron) and they'd replace it no charge and no questions asked. I suspect there was a fault in the manufacturing process at one point with my dou... hopefully the replacement should last.

Anyway, Sehyun has a good selection, good service and good prices. Only real problem is that you have to pay by bank transfer... which can take ages.

Two friends of mine bought hand-stiched from Sehyun. They were satisfied but the men leather seemed to take forever to break in.

[Andoru]

Thanks Alex.

[lucian]

Sorry about the lateness of my reply,



Its not really a fair test, to compare this suit to my old Japanese machine stitched as they were 6 & 5mm very low end suits; in price the sehyun suit wins hands down

The quality of the suit is competitive with most 3mm suits I have seen if not better

As I said I only bought this suit as a cheap replacement, for my Mitsuboshi hand stitched set which died very young only 6 months old

So I bought this, as I could not really afford to buy another suit in such a short time space, I honestly did not expect it to be this good.

I have noticed the cotton is a higher yarn than most shops sell

My set has #8000 cotton where as my Japanese suits look like a lower yarn; Not that it makes much difference like

I have no idea on the type of mattress they used in the sehyun set when my kote die I will cut them open and find out for you

Price wise it is very hard to beat, unless you know a good sensei or bougu craftsman in Japan that can do you a deal



Kote: were tough but are just starting to break in now, My palms are cow leather quite thick, and the head is dear leather, they have no signs of tearing yet

All bougu wears out eventually, and kote are the most consumable part

My kote will probably only last a year, I am tempted to replace them with Mitsuboshi pair

But I think I will try sehyun hand stitched as they really surprised me with this set, but even buying two or three sets of 3mm Kote from them are worth the price



Men: fits nicely, still very stiff, no signs of paint flaking yet

Tare: is great, the only thing I judge tare on is appearance as they do very little to protect unless from slash at Do, then we just got to hope it glances off and not tsuki’ed home :|

But it looks sturdy enough to last a good few years



Do: is fake bamboo look also, I took the red one, it fades from a red down to crimson and maroon into black with pink sakura pattern

My do has some protective coating missing just a small patch (but that does not bother me, as I will repaint it when I find out what final coating is used.)

Bad news to hear about you losing a chunk of your do Alex, there are no sings of it happening on mine, but if it does I will let you know Andrew

Himo: cheap crap but what do you expect for bougu that price, all the leather are rolled and stitched and use good leather



Sehyun do give very good service, it is annoying having to go to the bank and fill out forms to start the transfer but I am dyslexic so my bank did it all for me

And sehyun were cool with what ever currency I wanted to send, I let them handle all the extra bank costs I only paid my own side

They kept me up to date with everything, no lies at all

They gave me the posting date, and I was doubtful but it turned up 2 days later

For price and quality I could not be happier

[Leon]

Greetings,

Just checked out the Sehyun site. I must say that some of their Bogu are pretty gorgeous. Excuse my monetary ignorance but does anyone roughly know how much “KRW950,000” is US currency? I started practicing Kendo about 4 months back and am thus in the market for my first Bogu. It seems that their No.200 2mm set would be ideal for me (I was shooting for 3mm, but if they’re cheaper why not go for 2mm), aesthetically speaking anyway.

Further, am I gathering correctly that the quality of their bogu is comparable with similar Japanese models?

Thanks,

Leon

[Hai_hai]

Greetings,

Just checked out the Sehyun site. I must say that some of their Bogu are pretty gorgeous. Excuse my monetary ignorance but does anyone roughly know how much “KRW950,000” is US currency? I started practicing Kendo about 4 months back and am thus in the market for my first Bogu. It seems that their No.200 2mm set would be ideal for me (I was shooting for 3mm, but if they’re cheaper why not go for 2mm), aesthetically speaking anyway.

Further, am I gathering correctly that the quality of their bogu is comparable with similar Japanese models?

Thanks,

Leon

Go to www.x-rates.com
The site has exchange rates.

Seyhun bogu from what I can tell sucks. Their kote leather is made of people.

[Leon]

How much, generally, would the shipping charges be?

Equipment of that size and weight being sent half way around the world......



Scares me just thinking about it.