I ordered three shinai's from Sankei and I got them yesterday. I was going to strip them to sand and oil today (which, for me is quite a rare thing to do lol) but I will review them on a initial impression.
Firstly, I bought three ultimate handmade keichiu shinai's. These are different from madake shinai in that the bamboo is grown in Taiwan (yay Taiwan) and not the type in Japan. They are considered slightly inferior and thus cheaper. The three I bought were HK-08, HK-09 and HK-10 on the catalogue , otherwise known as the kotou bishamon, kotou kyoto eizan and kotou ittou sai respectively.
First impressions, I didn't like the leather they had put on it. It was shedding quite badly, and well, to me, that wasn't good quality leather. I guess time will tell on how good the leather is. The rest is all good. They were well made, polished, and the shinai slats were already rounded off meaning I didn't actually have to sand them at all. The parts were put on quite snugly and tied on very tight. They look really good, but I still applied a very fine coat of oil to the top end of the shinai.
The feel of them were slightly different, which was what I was after, to try the different styles. The bishamon has a light feel to it overall with a thicker grip, very sturdy feel to it. The kyoto eizan has more weight towards the kensen but, isn't overly weighted in that direction. The ittou sai... feels lighter than the kyoto eizan but not as light as the bishamon because it only has a standard grip, but is a very thin looking shinai. I haven't actually weighed them.... hmm, let me go do that now since they have to pass 530g weight for competition purposes...
OMG, ok, that is shocking.....
The kyoto eizan has a SSP sticker on it (it's like a standardisation sticker for shinai manufacturers) and weighs in at 535g. The bishamon has no sticker and weighs in at 520g, and the ittou sai has no sticker and weighs in at 525g.... I can see why they have no sticker, because they wouldn't pass competition registration LOL. Hmmm, I think I need to wax them if I want to use them in competition, but that won't be for a while yet I guess...... Or soak in oil....
Well, besides that new revelation of their weight, they are beautiful. They look very well crafted, feel excellent, and have been pre-rounded too. They seem to handle nicely and well, the leather problem will be gone once the shinai gets used a bit.
Lets see how they play on monday ^^
Firstly, I bought three ultimate handmade keichiu shinai's. These are different from madake shinai in that the bamboo is grown in Taiwan (yay Taiwan) and not the type in Japan. They are considered slightly inferior and thus cheaper. The three I bought were HK-08, HK-09 and HK-10 on the catalogue , otherwise known as the kotou bishamon, kotou kyoto eizan and kotou ittou sai respectively.
First impressions, I didn't like the leather they had put on it. It was shedding quite badly, and well, to me, that wasn't good quality leather. I guess time will tell on how good the leather is. The rest is all good. They were well made, polished, and the shinai slats were already rounded off meaning I didn't actually have to sand them at all. The parts were put on quite snugly and tied on very tight. They look really good, but I still applied a very fine coat of oil to the top end of the shinai.
The feel of them were slightly different, which was what I was after, to try the different styles. The bishamon has a light feel to it overall with a thicker grip, very sturdy feel to it. The kyoto eizan has more weight towards the kensen but, isn't overly weighted in that direction. The ittou sai... feels lighter than the kyoto eizan but not as light as the bishamon because it only has a standard grip, but is a very thin looking shinai. I haven't actually weighed them.... hmm, let me go do that now since they have to pass 530g weight for competition purposes...
OMG, ok, that is shocking.....
The kyoto eizan has a SSP sticker on it (it's like a standardisation sticker for shinai manufacturers) and weighs in at 535g. The bishamon has no sticker and weighs in at 520g, and the ittou sai has no sticker and weighs in at 525g.... I can see why they have no sticker, because they wouldn't pass competition registration LOL. Hmmm, I think I need to wax them if I want to use them in competition, but that won't be for a while yet I guess...... Or soak in oil....
Well, besides that new revelation of their weight, they are beautiful. They look very well crafted, feel excellent, and have been pre-rounded too. They seem to handle nicely and well, the leather problem will be gone once the shinai gets used a bit.
Lets see how they play on monday ^^
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