Shinai

[J. Csensits]

Does anyone use an oval grip shinai? I was wondering the pros and cons. I personally use a round grip shinai and was considering an oval grip. Your thoughts/comments.
Thanks
Jon Csensits

[peterees]

I have had one oval grip shinai (a gift).

It's a lot like holding a bokken, which for me means all my grip characteristics are different. That depends on the shape of your bokken of course. I would definately have one again, but they're real hard to come by here in New Zealand and more expensive generally.

The main consideration is the life of it. With regular shinai you can swap slats etc and the bottom one can be rotated freely. Bear in mind with oval shinai you have two pairs of different slat types and obviously rotation is more limited.

We were talking in the dojo recently about what makes your 'dream' shinai (that sounds sad now I've written it down!)

We all (all Dans) wanted carbon fibre for our general training but preferred bamboo for shiai and balance. Most of us wanted dobari type, again for balance and a couple oval grip.

A carbon fibre, oval grip dobari type shinai seemed to fit the 'great shinai' category, but at near $300 US none of us are rushing out to buy one.

[Simon Chien]

Dear All,

The weight of carbon tennis racket is around 350 to 400 gram with the retail price around USD 80 to 100 for entry level.

The production ,on the other hand , of tennis racket is quite complicated ( more complicate than shinai because of the shape )
(I think but I am not sure ).

I think the people who make carbon shinai are making too much money. It's always competition in the market that makes our life easier !

Regards,
Simon Chien