Equipment

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Basic Equipment Overview

There are three main types of equipment in kendo. We have the clothes, the armour (called bogu) and the weapons. Detailed information about each of these is available using the categories below, but here is a brief overview.

As you can see on the illustration, the clothes consist of two parts: the top part called a kendogi and the bottom part called a hakama. Traditionally, almost all kendo equipment is navy.

The bogu consists of four main parts:

The men (面) is the helmet that protects our head and is secured by himo. You will see this word quite often as it just means any string on any part of the bogu or even hakama. Underneath the men we wear a coloured piece of cloth called a tenugui (not counted as part of the main four here). These come in a wide variety of colours and designs, often with inspirational messages. We even have our very own design you can buy!
The dō (胴 ) is the chest guard which closely reflect the shape of samurai armour (called ō-yoroi). The most common design is a polished black dō-dai (the middle part of the dō) however these can be made in a variety of colours and designs. The top half, called mune, also has decorative stitching with a variety of patterns available. Due to the ease of manufacture, the vast majority of dō that you will see are synthetic, made of a resilient plastic. However, traditionally dō are made out of 60 bamboo slats that are expertly lacquered and crafted. Understandably, these versions are very expensive (starting at about £600).
The kote (小手) are the pair of gloves we wear that protect the hands and wrist. The first section, called a kote-atama is often filled with synthetic fibres, but traditionally it would be filled with deer wool. The leather on the palm can also be either synthetic (most common) or real deer leather.
The tare (垂れ) is the waist protection that sits below the chest guard. It consists of 5 "flaps" - two small ones at the back called ko-dare and three large ones at the front called ō-dare. The middle flap is where we attach our name tag, called a zekken (although you may also see the traditional nafuda). The zekken contains the club name at the top, either a club logo, national flag or the person's surname in katakana in the middle, and their surname in the Latin alphabet at the bottom. Otherwise it would be very hard to tell who is who!

The weapons consist of two types of sword:

The shinai is the bamboo slat sword that we use for full-contact sparring. It is designed in such a way to be robust but flexible, and in slow motion footage you can often see it bend significantly on impact. It is supposed to be the representation of a katana, though you will immediately see that the proportions are quite different to a real sword. The weight and size are standardised, though the weight distribution and materials can vary.
The bokutō is a wooden sword (often also made out of compressed bamboo however oak is common) that is much closer in shape and feel to a real katana. These are not used in any kind of contact sparring. Instead, these swords are used in kata, a set of choreographed "forms" performed in pairs. Some of the purposes of this kind of training is to reinforce the fundamentals, remember the connection to kenjutsu (Japanese swordsmanship), and learn different techniques.

What Do I Need At The Start?

Beginner's Course

If you are still on your beginner's course then we have good news: you do not need to buy anything yet. Everything you need will be provided for you. In fact, at this stage we would discourage any early purchases as you may not be sure if kendo is for you yet, and you may buy the wrong thing. Although we get it, new hobbies are exciting!

Post Beginner's Course

Once you have completed the beginner's course you should have an idea if kendo is for you. As such, this is the point where we would encourage you to start shopping around for a beginner's set. These usually contain:

Kendo-gi and Hakama
Shinai (with tsuba and tsuba-dome)
Bokuto (with tsuba and tsuba-dome)
A shinai carry case

If you want more information on each of these components, please scroll down!

There are various places where you can buy these, for the UK we often use either Kendostar or 9Circles (not sponsored by either of them!).

A beginner set like this will cost around £150 and will last you for a long time. The only thing that will break is the shinai, but practice shinai (often included in these sets) are built to be extra sturdy, so even they will last longer than other regular shinai.

Note on colour of clothes: we strongly recommend buying navy blue rather than white. Navy blue is the standard colour that virtually everyone around the world wears when practicing kendo and it is the more traditional colour. On a practical level, the dye that is used to colour the navy blue clothes rubs off very easily - if you come into contact with a blue set and you are wearing white you will inevitably start to slowly become blue. Save yourself the headache and purchase blue hakama and kendogi.

Measurements

Before you buy the clothes, you will need to measure yourself. The shop from which you choose to purchase should have comprehensive information on the exact types of measurements that they need with guides on how to measure them. If you are unsure, please ask us to help! Measure twice, and buy once. If you want more information, then Kendostar has produced a helpful video showing how to measure yourself.

What Do I Need Later On?

Ready for Bogu (Armour)?

Once one of the sensei at the club has decided you have advanced far enough, they will approach you about getting into armour. This is the single biggest expense of practicing kendo and you should expect to spend about £350. However, once purchased, one set of armour can last for your entire kendo career (with the exception of kote). Many people after a few years start to buy individual armour components to slowly upgrade their set, but this is completely personal preference.

A set of kendo bogu consists of:

Men (Helmet)
Kote (Gloves)
Do (Chest Armour)
Tare (Waist Armour)

We again recommend the two suppliers listed in the previous section, Kendostar and 9Circles, as that is where most of our members have bought equipment from and can vouch for their quality.

The single most important factor when buying your set of bogu is to make sure it is from a reputable source, and that it fits you well.

Ill fitting armour is the single most common cause of pain, discomfort and injury. People complain about aches and pains only for those to disappear as soon as they put on properly fit equipment.

There are so many sets, which one do I need?

At the beginning, we recommend not spending a lot of money on a very fancy expensive set. As with anything, there are diminishing returns on the quality of the armour, and they can get very, very expensive. Most shops should do a "basic" set, which falls into the price range we mentioned: approx. £350. This will do everything that other armour sets do, and everything you need. Typically as you go up in price, the sets either become specialised (for example jissengata - armour as light as possible for the highest levels of competition), or they become ornate (fancy stitching patterns, leather being used instead of synthetic leather, extra embroidery).

Kendo Swords: Explained

Work in Progress

Shinai and bokuto

Explain types of shinai, mens, womens and juniors, and regulations

Components of shinai, bokuto and katana

Iaito - mention not for kendo and definitely not for beginners but may see them

Shinai Maintenance

Work in Progress

What to look out for and how to check them

How to tie and retie

How often to check things

Oiling?

Recommended Tools

Kendogi and Hakama

Work in Progress

How to Wear

Cotton vs Synthetic

Colours

Pleats and Meaning

Tenugui - How Do I Tie It?

Work in Progress

Zekken/Nafuda (Name Pouches)

Work in Progress

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