Katori Shintō-ryū (香取神道流) or in full:Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū (天真正伝香取神道流) is one of the oldest extant Japanese martial arts, and an exemplar of koryū bujutsu.

The school was founded by Iizasa Ienao in 1447 and was popularized in the west by the writings of late Donn F. Draeger.

Links:

• All Katori Shintō-ryū weapons in our shop
• Wikipedia page on Katori Shintō-ryū

 

Otake-dojo and Sugino-dojo

Because of the different lines in the school, the weapons found in the different dojo, can vary slightly. For instance Sugino Yoshio had a small posture and used a light, thin bo. Furthermore, in Sugino-dojo a smaller naginata is used (215 cm), compared to the longer o-naginata used in Otake-dojo (245 cm).

Koryu Bokken has origional weapons from the dojo of Otake Ritsuke and the dojo of Sugino Yoshio. We used these weapons as an example for our bokken-expert Pero.

A kodachi in Sugino style measures 54 cm, has a type C kissaki and (in hornbeam) weighs approximately 220 grams. A bokken in Otake style measures 54 cm, has a type A kissaki and (in hornbeam) weighs approximately 260 grams.

 

Different woodtypes

Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) is the prefered wood for us at Koryu Bokken for the bokken used in daily practise. Hornbeam has many similarities to the Japanese white oak bokkens used to be made from some 15 years ago.

It has few vessels and the vessels it has are very small; it is about the same desity as Japanese white oak; it is strong; absorbs shocks; the wood dents without splintering and it's color is not to far from white oak to stand out in a dojo, if that may be a problem.

All the hornbeam is cut from our carpenters own private forest in Croatia. Pieces as selected for their shape to follow te sori of your blade and then dried for one year before being procesed.

Hornbeam can be used for both small and long weapons so you can order a full set of weapons with exactly the same colour.

Other woodtypes we offer:

• Beech (Fagus sylvatica)
• Wild Cherry (Prunus avium)
• European oak (Quercus petraea)
• Acacia (Albizia procera)
• Jatoba (Hymenaea courbaril)
• Walnut (Juglans cinerea)
• Ipe (Tabebuia serratifolia)
• Wenge (Millettia laurentii)
• Zebrawood (Microberlinia brazzavillensis)
• Padauk (Pterocarpus marsupium)
• Indian Rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia)
• Purpleheart (Peltogyne paniculata)

All previous woods are non-CITES spiecies and are readily available.

Unfortunatelly we are unable to offer the following woodtypes on a regular basis, since the supply for suitable pieces is very slim. We do however offer some stock items from these woods and if your are very interested in one of these types of wood, feel free to contact us, maybe we can find you a piece.

• Pear (Pyrus communis)
• Plum (Pygeum africanum)
• Dogwood (Cornus florida)
• Blackheart (Zollernia paraensis)
• Ebony (Diospyros melanoxylon)

Read more about the woodtypes we offer here...