Broken Shinai

[Confound]

I have about four shinai at the moment, I like them all equally. mine usually wear out, they don't break.

c

[Critical_Bill]

I have 2 shinai and some spare parts atm
the two whole ones are total frankenstien shinais i've never broken one, but they do wear out, and you can only sand so much before it's a lost cause
Anyway i kinda enjoy fixing my shinais

[saki_wooah]

I never broke my shinais (in my short experience). My first one started to worn out when I decided to buy a new one because I thought it was too blue for me and the leather handle was gross. My new one is okay, but the cord is starting to break. My nakayui is going to die in any minute, but the slats are okay.

[hobbit]

I have a supply of take from splintered shinai, but haven't broken one in a few years practicing. Having said that, I recently saw someone trash 2 during a shiai bout.

[cklin]

Question: what does it mean to "wear out" a shinai? Do you mean the leather fittings or the actual bamboo?

As was said earlier, it really depends on how well you take care of the shinai and what the climate is. And how tall your opponents are (the taller they are, the more probable it is to hit men gane). The longest I've had one shinai was 2.5 yrs, then I got busy and wasn't good about oiling it (it was winter-time, so the air was very dry) -- broke at the next keiko. :'(

[Tato]

Well, I never broke a Shinai (yet), but I guess that this is because I'm still a beginner (and because I don't cut with suficient strength).

I've seen a couple of shinai breaking, allways in shiai.

And I've seen a really worn out shinai, with the bamboo slates literally desintegrating into little staves. In fact you where able to accelerate the process by rolling the slate with your fingers. Amazing.

Rei

[Confound]

those kinds of shinai, Tato, should be thrown in the garbage post-haste, then their owners should be given a stern lecture in shinai maintenance. If they do not repent the error of their ways, let me know. I'll send them some horribly graphic information about potential eye diseases they could have the pleasure of contracting if bamboo ends up in their eyes.

c

[AlexM]

In 1¼ years of kendo I have managed to go through 5 shinai. I oil them and I sand them, I reassemble them from spare parts and I've still managed to go through 5 freaking shinai in about a year of being in bogu. My dojo mates can testify to the spectacular nature of some of my breaks (we're talking splits down half the length of the shinai). At one point during the summer I broke one slat per practice.

And yes, I already know that:
a) I block too much
b) I hit too hard (So, anyone up for jikeiko?)
c) I go for dou very often (I think this can really damage a shinai over the long run)
d) I'm a bit shorter than many of my regular opponents so I'm more likely to hit the mengane isntead of the men-buton.

[Paburo]

well alex, in my dojo there's this guy who has broken more shinais than you in about the same time. i think Tato knows him.

he broke one once against his opponents dou in men-kaeshi-dou waza. the dou even got cracked a bit (cheap fiber glass). the last one he broke was doing kote-nuki-men. the staves spread as if it was popcorn.

my sensei told me to put my heart on them tournaments. that's what i do, and that's why shinais die. too much kiai.

confound, what you need is more taikai and go for the kill. then we'll see how long your shinai lasts :D

[kendokamax]

???????????
need more taikai and go for the kill????

ehh ?? They broke a shinai during do- kirikaeshi??
woah this is scary stuff!

as for playing taikai and gettin ippon....you don't really need to break your shinai with your ?kiai? to win.....euh ....
With my cheap "made in china" shinai I won 10 matches in two tournaments over a period of 4 months...and it was still good for practices after....but that shinai is history now.....:'(

[Steve]

I apparently am very hard on shinai. I maintain them regularly with oil, sand down splinters, etc... but i have a shinai graveyard.

A good number of them are most likely due to hitting too hard, many are due to our dry weather, and some are just cheap shinai. Most likely its a combination of all of them.

Most of the breaks occur at the first joint in the bamboo above the tsuba (that little nub on the inside) and proceed to crack above and below that area. Why that particular spot, i don't know why

Can i count the number of shinai I've broken? Yeah, but i'm ashamed to do so. Lets just say I've been in Kendo for just over 3 years, and I've had about (off the record) 10 (new) bamboo shinai (+ or -) and 1 carbon shinai. <sniffle>

As far as women breaking shinai, we've had that happen. Not as often as the guys, but it does happen.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Originally posted by Steve
I
Most of the breaks occur at the first joint in the bamboo above the tsuba (that little nub on the inside) and proceed to crack above and below that area. Why that particular spot, i don't know why.

Have a look at the edges of the staves on the sides. If there are dents in them around that area, then you're hitting the men-gane there. This means you're hitting too close.

Another issue is if you are receiving a lot of practice cuts on the shinai when working with the beginners. If you habitually use your regular shinai as a target for beginners, consider constructing a short target shinai from broken staves so that you don't wreck your own shinais.

[etherknot]

Well I still have yet to see a shinai break. Although I've only been around for a year.
But sure enough last weekend my naginata instructor was engaged in jigeiko and there was this really loud WHACK....thud. And silence. Sure enough he was standing with e-bu in hand and everybody was looking at his ha-bu (tip end) just lying down on the floor near by.
Right above the tape line... clear across and snapped right off. You want bamboo splinters? Cause he has plenty to give out now...

[Paburo]

steve>> if the cracks are near the tsuba, isn't that for blocking too much?

90% of the shinais i've cracked were damaged between nakayui and kensen.

kendokamax>> i didn't break the shinai in KIRIkaeshi dou.
it was men-kaeshi-dou, and it was in the middle of shiai.

what i meant with breaking a shinai in taikai was that the more 'kiai'('fighting spirit' in this case, not koe) you use in shiai, the more likely it is to break the shinai. (and most kenshi increase their kiai when going to a tournament.)

that's why a lot of ppl that usually use only bamboo switch to carbon shinai mode in taikai :D

[kendokamax]

ah really?

I didnt know that