Three of Four: Saga

It has taken me longer to evaluate the "High Performance" shinai Saga.
I had just experience the comforting feeling of the Suzaku, so easy to direct and control, and here I found myself handling something completely different.
Saga requires some time to master, because, in a sense, it places itself between a full Dobari and a regular shinai. The grip is larger (surely closer to Kyogoku, if not identical), but the balance is not completely moved towards the hands. The tip has still some weight, which could be welcome for sharpness`s sake, but that takes some time to understand and to adjust.
It is not a Prêt-à-Porter shinai: it needs to be discovered and extensively used to offer its full potential.
I have developed the impression that, in the Ladies`39 version, it remains a bit on the tip-heavy side - nevertheless the feeling of sheer power is still very evident: I guess it should be a really ferocious monster with the Men`s 39  weight.

The most underestimated part of the bogu

Of course, I am referring to the poor Tare. Not born to receive ippon, it offers passive protection and unassumingly recalls the noble shape of the ancient samurai yoroi. But after all, what do we know about the humble Tare?

First of all, a Tare is virtually immortal. The only part that really wears out is the obi, that gets brutally stretched every time we wear our bogu. If the quality of the cotton is good, the obi can last years without too much fatigue - and in any case it can require a repair that we (or Mum or spouse or dojo friend) can easily make. The Tare can discolour with time, but usually it does it gracefully and just as gracefully it can assume a nice bend which adds to its looks.

Having said that, it seems pretty clear you are going to be stuck with your Tare for a very long time, unless you are the kind of kenshi that alternates several bogu or that can follow the fancy of purchasing the odd spare part from time to time. Your Tare, most of the times, is there to stay.
So, what can be the criteria to select your Tare? Everyone would yell: "The more kazari ito, the better!", but this is a bit of trite way to evaluate the Tare of (half) of our Kendo life. Let`s recall the features that could be worthwhile exploring in our selection.

Number one: the weight.
In my Kendo career I stumbled upon very different Tare, whose weight would really span from the terribly heavy to the light as a feather. Given the fact that a Tare should protect, but not create an obstacle, in my opinion, the lighter, the better. The trend nowadays goes in this direction, luckily - the safety aspect is taken care of, but also the comfort is guaranteed. Tare are now lighter, thanks to the different types of padding employed and to the new ways of stitching. Let`s not forget that the Tare, together with the Men, has the wider extension of stitched Futon - the way it is stitched can play an important role.
One discovery that really impressed me has been the Fukuro Nui: literally, the "bag sewing". Ordinary Tare are made of a sandwich of material and padding, which are kept together by stitching and then hemmed with neo-leather or deerskin strips. Actually, we have grown so accustomed to this way of building the Tare, that we consider the hemming as an integral part of the overall decoration, just as the aforementioned kazari ito. In truth, thanks to the Fukuru Nui, the need for hemming is gone: the odare and kodare are made instead as bags, filled with padding, so there`s no necessity to reinforce the hem. The Tare becomes miraculously light and the look definitely changes: the beauty of the Tare sits in the very visible stitching and not anymore in the hemming (which, by the way, is very often subject to much more stress, even when sitting lazily in the bogu bag). I have become a big fan of Fukuro Nui: maybe it is an acquired taste, I think it is going to grow.

Fukuro nui Tare

Fukuro nui Tare

Number Two: the look.
There is much more than the kazari ito. I think the best decorative part sits in the kawakazari, which is actually BELOW and ABOVE the kazari ito. You can choose the shape of it (clouds and spades and hearts and arabesques and...), but the most striking feature is the way these shapes are designed: it could be an additional layer of neo-leather or deerskin, or, my favourite, an extra-dense superimposed stitching: kumogata vs kumozashi. Needless to say, the less layers, the lighter - I stick with my initial priority.

kumozashi

kumogata

Regarding the kazari ito, I don`t want to sound too snob and do not consider them at all in the picture. But I must say, I tend to favour contrasting kazari ito - crimson or dark green or tobacco-brown look AMAZING on indigo, I have seen so many examples by now that I would get as far as saying I could one day have a bogu all built with some striking colour contrast like that. After all, who cares, I am not going to take part in any All Japan Kendo Championship and in my old age I can be excused for some little quirks.

Two of Four: Suzaku

True to my promise to review all four Kyoto Budogu star shinai, I chose to pass from Kyogoku, the strong Dobari shinai, to the slenderer Kobangata Suzaku.

In case someone still does not know why these oval grip shinai are called kobangata, just a few lines of history: the Koban was a Japanese oval gold coin that was used in the Edo period and was dismissed in the Meiji Restoration in 1868. The final section of the shinai has exactly the same shape of a Koban, since the staves are simmetrical two by two, the lateral ones being wider at the grip, than the top and bottom ones.

Kobangata shinai are not a new thing, I used them in the past, and they offered a very easy help to maintain a correct kamae. They seemed like Columbus`s egg in order to solve an issue that every beginner kenshi feels acutely.
I stopped using them because at the time (let`s say 20 years ago?) they were difficult to purchase and because, in case of splintering, it was complicated to substitute a staff (unless a kobangata staff of the right shape and size was at hand). In times of scarcity, interchanging staves were a necessity and not only a nice-to-have feature.

Times have changed, and here comes the Suzaku. I used it for kihon and jigeiko practice at my dojo and of course, coming from the previous experience with the Kyogaku, the difference was massive.
First of all, the balance is different, not being a Dobari, the tip feels somewhat heavier. Not being a heavy shinai, though, it takes a very short time to get accustomed to the new weight distribution.
What I really appreciated, after so many years with round grip shinai, was the feeling of complete control of the line of swing of the shinai, even during ample furikaburi. Columbus`s egg was back.
This encouraged me to insist particularly with debana men, just to have a practical proof of the better control. It worked fine, it was a real pleasure seeing the kensen land exactly at the centre of my opponent`s Men. The work of the left hand was definitely more precise and more effective, the right hand didn`t take over and spoil the straight trajectory. A very satisfying feeling.
In the confrontation between power and control, the Suzaku really plays on the side of the second, while the Kyogaku sits firmly with the first.
I still have to make up my mind regarding which approach is better for me, but definitely the exploration is going to be very interesting and fruitful.