Customer Reviews

Kendo Bamboo Shinai Practice Sword

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

My friend and I recently joined a Kendo club at our University. We were so excited, that we just had to purchase a Shinai, and we found this. We thought it was a good deal and we bought it.
It came yesterday, but something was wrong. The wrapping was nice, but there was a tag on the 2 shinais, "Made in China". We brought these Shinai's to our Sensei, only to find out this is 200% fake. This Shinai's wood is dangerously of low quality. Real Shinai's bamboo are coated with a substance that will prevent it from causing splinters and the such, but this Shinai has no coating and it potentially dangerous (if a splinter were to erupt, it can "explode" upon impact when hitting a Bogu armor or another Shinai). It is like someone broke a wooden chair and used those parts to make this Shinai. You can tell between REAL bamboo and LOW quality bamboo.
Another factor of this Shinai is it's length. Standard length of Shinai in Kendo is a very important factor, and this Shinai is just too short, around 10 cm short (and that matters).
Its weight is too light compared to a real Shinai.
Overall, this product is fake, and I am lucky this cost cheap (I cannot return this because unfortunately I have written words on it), but I still use this for swinging practices, but never had the thought of hitting anything with it.

I wish I had seen the other reviews before I ordered this crap. If anyone is planing on buying these please read this. THESE ARE DANGEROUS. they will shatter the first time you use them. I got hit in the mouth by a stray piece of wood on a similar quality shinai. I have used my bamboo shinai for over a decade without any problems. These are of such bad quality that during my first practice bout, the one I was holding completely shattered. My opponents shinai was damaged, but is still maintaining its shape, barely. Please read this for your own personal safety. DO NOT BUY THESE. THEY WILL HURT YOU.

This was the worst product ever. It was a gift for my son and he used it for 30 minutes before it broke. When his instructor looked at it my son was so embarrassed. The instructor told him it was a cheap replica of a real shinai and pointed out all the poorly used materials it was made with. He recommended getting one from e-mudo, which is genuine and costs roughly the same. That is where I will be getting his next one. Too bad I won't be able to get my money back.

My shinai broke on first impact. The piece of crap was flimsy on arrival. During its first use the damn thing broke in half on me in the middle of a block. Don't bother buying from this distributor.

For my birthday this year my brother-in-law got me a plastic light saber. Being a Star Wars fan, I greatly appreciated it, however we couldn't really "dual" properly for fear of breaking it. Well the following week was his birthday so I ordered him a set of these and also myself a set. I think I spent less on four of these than he did on the light saber but they have been great fun. Also I just got standard shipping but they came about three days earlier than expected. Would have given them a five but there was a small stitching issue on one of the handles. Otherwise great product and lots of fun for not so much money.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality of this Shinai. I figured it would be poorly fitted because of the low price. However it exceeded my expectations. Many years ago, I played Kendo. I wish we had access to this quality shinai for the price back then!

the sword is really good and all, but it is not made of bamboo. i hit my punching bag hard near the tip of the sword and it snap. It is really good for sparring, i just say that don't be hit things that are stronger then it.

For the most part the sword works well. The handle and the other pieces of white cloth are becoming more and more loose. the guard also wont fit on very well. I don't really use this sword to practice, but it is fun to have for messing around with friends.

This is a very good quality shinai as previous reviewers have mentioned, I do however have a few complaints. The packaging was a nightmare, It was wrapped extremely tight with what looked like a garbage bag and taped up, It took me a good 15-20 minutes or so just to get it off without damaging the product. Also anyone buying this should keep in mind that while it is made to take alot of abuse the bamboo is most tightly bound at the hilt which makes it brittle more or less, this was made clear as I disembled it after my friend went and sat on it thus snapping the bamboo in half right below the guard. I also found that the leather wrapped around the hilt seemed like it was glued on (this too was discovered upon disembling the shinai), although it could be that it just kind of fused to the wood over time assuming it hadn't been assembled recently when I got it, in any case this is kind of a problem because it makes it more difficult to replace the bamboo parts after they eventually become damaged over extensive use without damaging said leather. So other than some minor inconveniences this is a great buy, excellent quality for a very low price, and I've already ordered a replacement for the one that was broken.

You can't beat the price. The bamboo on this particular one was well matched and ready for a snappy "men" (head) strike!