Colored do

[A. Henriksson]

I´m about to buy a new bogu and I´m kind of thinking about a do with another color than black.
I´m thinking about the old saying about the nail that sticks up... I don´t want to be that nail. I´m not the kind of guy who likes flashy stuff I just think that black is a bit dull and that a colored do would look better.

What do you think?

[Simon Chien]

Hi Henriksson,

What about dark brown or dark red ? Seems to be a good solution that it's not black while the color is not so " bright " that the do becomes a good target for your opponent.

I wear dark red do myself.

[A. Henriksson]

I am thinking about a red or blue do. I think I´ll go for the blue one. Color number 2 at ninecircles.

[alexpollijr]

Why not? It's your Do anyway, so, 'any colour you like' is fine i think.

But beware, coloured Do draws attention at tournies. Also, I hope your sensei will not want to introduce Do kirikaeshi after that

Go for it man, don't worry about that. In the end, all that matter is kendo, not colours.

Cheers

[akihiro]

Colorful dou are popular nowadays and widely accepted. It is a reflection of personal taste, so I agree with alexpollijr.
Besides, maybe it will give you an edge when you encounter someone new. They might be distracted by your dou, giving you an opportunity to attack!

[KhawMengLee]

Heh, This guy had a pink "no fear" sticker where the mon usually is. I saw him crack a few people who where mesmerised by it. Heh, I can still see the "what the f*ck look on their faces..."

I use a sorta molten gold coloured DO, so its not bright gold but more darker. my second set is all black though, and I use that for shiai.


MENG

[qpuppy]

well.. if you worry about being too flashy becasue of the colour...
one of my senior have a do which is red... but the pattern is, red at the start (top)... and slowly fad to a black (bottom) of the do... looks quite nice...

Al

[kendo_chick]

The way that I picked my do colour was because of my name. My last name is Rose, so I picked the black rose colour from Kendoshop. It is not only a great colour (a deep purply red) but it is a reflection of me!

My boyfriend has a do of the same colour qpuppy was talking about with red fading to black.

[A. Henriksson]

Thanks for all the replies. I´ll go for the blue one I´m pretty sure. Too bad I have to wait 6-8 weeks before ninecircles get one in stock...

[Will]

My new do is going to be colored because my mom was complaining on how she couldn't tell which one was me at the tournaments...

[Kendoka]

Yeah Andreas, go for a colour, black is so hard to hit !

Richard

[chidokan]

I got given a lovely one, 80 piece bamboo in a sort of golden brown with mother of pearl flecked inlay. If anyone hits it while I'm sparring, I polish it with my elbow. While they laugh or groan, I hit them back....

Tim Hamilton

[olaf]

Why is everyone so opposed to the traditional, sleek, black do? I never understood all the fancy stuff - do with embedded seashell pieces, paintings of dragons, falling maple leaves, etc...

If you can get hold of those black do with the sandy, non-shiny texture, I think that would be ideal. It's a nice, conservative traditional look without the risk of getting the do all scratched up.

[Sup]

3tone sunburst would be nice, with the core color a bit
dark.. Thats how I like my strat.

But with bogu's , I like conservative ones.
Black or really really dark rose

[akihiro]

Olaf, I do not think people are opposed to the traditional black dou, it is just that there are so many choices of color/pattern available now to suit one's taste.

I prefer the old styles, the deep dark reddish-brown lacquer finish is my favorite, but the black lacquer finish is hard to beat.

The only pattern I dislike is imitation woodgrain, it reminds me of a modern car's dashboard.