Bokken

A daisho set of bokuto

A bokken (木剣, bok(u), "wood", and ken, "sword") (or commonly as bokutō 木刀 in Japan), is a Japanese wooden sword used for training, usually the size and shape of a katana, but sometimes shaped like other swords, such as the wakizashi and tantō. Some ornamental bokken are decorated with mother-of-pearl work and elaborate carvings.

Bokutō should not be confused with shinai, a sword made of bamboo that is used for practice in kendo.

Usage

The bokken is used as an inexpensive and safe substitute for a real sword in several martial arts such as kendo, aikido and kenjutsu.

In 2003, the All Japan Kendo Federation (AJKF) introduced a type of practice using bokken. Bokuto Ni Yoru Kendo Kihon-waza Keiko-ho is a set of basic exercises using a bokuto. This form of practice, is intended primarily for kendoka up to ni-dan (2), but is very useful for all kendo students.^[1]

Suburito are bokken designed for use in suburi. Suburi, literally "bare swinging," are solo cutting exercises. Suburito are thicker and heavier than normal bokken and users of suburito have to develop both strength and technique. Their weight makes them unsuitable for paired practice or kata.

History

Historically, bokken are as old as Japanese swords, and were used for the training of warriors. The bokken is a wooden training tool for those martial artists interested in learning the use of a sword. In Japan, the sword and the art of its use goes back before the times of written history. There are legends that tell of the mythical period of the gods concerning their use of swords.

Miyamoto Musashi, a kenjutsu master, was renowned for fighting fully armed foes with only one or two bokken. In a famous legend, he defeated Sasaki Kojiro with a bokken he had carved from an oar while traveling on a boat to the predetermined island for the duel.

Types of bokken

The following list is the basic styles of bokken made:

1. daitō or tachi (katana-sized), long sword;
2. shoto or kodachi or wakizashi bo, short sword, (wakizashi-sized);
3. tanto bo (tantō-sized); and
4. suburito can be made in daito and shoto sizes but are meant for solo training. They are much heavier and harder to use, developing greater muscles, increasing skills with 'normal' sized bokken. One famous user of the suburi-sized bokken is Miyamoto Musashi who used one in his duel against Sasaki Kojiro.

Bokken can be made in any style of weapon required such as nagamaki, no-dachi, yari, naginata, kama, etc. The examples above are the most widely-used.

The All Japan Kendo Federation specify the dimensions of bokken for use in kendo kata.^[2]

• Tachi: Total length, approx. 102 cm; tsuka (handle) approx. 24 cm.
• Kodachi: Total length, approx. 55 cm; tsuka (handle) approx. 14 cm.

Additionally, various koryu (traditional Japanese martial arts) have their own distinct styles of bokken which can vary slightly in length, tip shape, or in whether or not a tsuba (hilt guard) is added.

Construction

The quality of the bokken depends on several factors. The type and quality of the wood and skill of the craftsman are all critical factors in the manufacture of a good quality bokken. Almost all mass produced bokken are made from porous, loose-grained southeast Asian wood. These bokken may be easily broken when used in even light to medium contact drills and are best left for non contact work, such as in kata. Furthermore, the wood is often so porous, that if the varnish is stripped off the inexpensive bokken, one can see the use of wood fillers to fill the holes.

While most species of North American red oak are unsuitable for construction of bokken, there are some Asian species of red oak that have a significantly tighter grain and will be able to withstand repeated impacts.

Superior woods, such as American white oak, also known as Kashi (not to be confused with Japanese white oak, known as Shiro Kashi, which is an evergreen species and lacks the weaker spring growth rings of the American oaks), have been a proven staple, having a tighter grain than red oak wood. Another choice, hickory wood, seems to have a very good blend of hardness and impact resistance, while still having a relatively low cost. American made bokkens can also be had often handmade by practicing budoka (student of the bokka). A few of the hardwoods that are used in American bokkens are the walnut, hickory, persimmon, oak and ironwood.^[3]

The use of exotic hardwoods is not unusual when constructing more expensive bokken. Bokken have been made from Brazilian cherrywood (Jatoba), others from purpleheart, and even from lignum vitae. Tropical woods are often quite heavy, a feature often desirable in a bokken despite the brittleness of these heavy and hard woods. Many exotic woods are suitable for suburi (solo practice), but not for paired practice where they would come into contact with other bokken.

Some online retailers offer bokken constructed from polypropylene plastics. The exact applications and benefits of such a weapon vary depending upon the user, as one such model has been demonstrated by its manufacturer to be capable of destroying concrete blocks and loading pallets.

Bokken in fiction

• In Hiroyuki Takei's manga Shaman King, Ryu possesses a wooden sword and uses it as his main weapon, and for that reason he is also known as Bokuto no Ryu.

• In Hideaki Sorachi's comedic manga series Gin Tama, the main character Gintoki Sakata wields a bokuto bearing the kanji characters for Lake Toya on the hilt. Throughout the series, Gintoki maintains he was given the bokuto by a hermit while on a school trip to Lake Toya, but it is later revealed he purchased it on a home shopping channel. The sword is made of an alien wood, giving it superior strength, with it being able to break through wood, metal and other materials a regular bokuto would shatter against. In chapter 150 of the manga, it is revealed that the bokuto has a sword spirit much like those of the Soul Reaper class in the manga series Bleach. Gintoki's sword spirit is a direct parody of Zangetsu, Ichigo Kurosaki's sword spirit.

• In the anime Bleach, Ikkaku Madarame carries a bokken when in his gigai form as he wasn't allowed to carry a real sword in public.

• Myōjin Yahiko switched from a shinai to a bokken at some time during the five year jump at the end of the Rurouni Kenshin manga series. Kaoru Kamiya also uses a bokken during a few fights, though during practice she prefers shinai.

• In the science fiction series Stargate Atlantis, Ronon Dex and other Atlantis expedition members use bokken for practice and sparring. However, the form practiced is not Japanese. Instead, the style employed by Ronon Dex and others is somewhat free-form, possibly based on a martial arts form in the fictional Pegasus galaxy. The bokken is more often held with one hand rather than two.

• In the anime Outlaw Star, the character "Twilight" Suzuka always used a bokken as her primary weapon.

• In the anime Ranma ½, the character Tatewaki "Blue Thunder/Blue Blunder" Kuno is captain of the kendo club and wields a bokken.

• In the anime Toradora, the character Taiga "Palmtop Tiger" Aisaka uses a brown bokken as her weapon.

• In the anime Sadamitsu the Destroyer Sadamitsu uses a bokken as his weapon of choice as he does not wish to kill, he is later given another version created by Junk to capture aliens.

• In the book Night World 2, the story The Chosen a vampire hunter uses a bokken to slay the vampires.

• In the anime Burst Angel, the young police officer/bike gang leader Takane Katsu often used a bokken.

• In the manga Asu no Yoichi!, the protagonist Yoichi regularly wears his wooden sword out in the open. Both he and one of his housemates, Ibuki Ikaruga, use this as their primary weapon of choice.

• In the film The Last Samurai the protagonist and several others are seen training with bokken.

• In the video game The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, the protagonist Link is given a bokken by his friend and mentor at the beginning of the game.

• In the video game Big Bang Beat, the character Ren Idagawa uses a bokken as his weapon.

• In the book Young Samurai: Way of the Warrior, the bokken is introduced to one of the main characters, Jack, by Yamato as a training sword. It is also featured in the second book, Young Samurai The Way of the Sword, where it is used by all of the students at the Niten Ichi Ryū.

• In the manga and anime series Highschool of the Dead, the character called Saeko Busujima uses a Bokken to fight off zombies for the first half of the story.

See also

• Aiki-Ken
• Iaido
• Kenjutsu
• Kinomichi
• Waster

References

External links

• A discussion of different woods with regard to bokken design, focusing particularly on durability
• Information about making or selecting a bokken