Harvested and hand crafted from South American Strawberry Guava. The Suburitō overall is much thicker than a typical bokken. The Suburitō are used for practicing suburi (sword swinging exercises) and kata (prearranged exercises). The weight of the suburitō is used for strengthening and conditioning in addition to development of the spirit. The suburitō are used to develop and refine the practitioner's skills in Tenouchi (grasping of the sword), Hasuji (angle whilst cutting/edge alignment) and Tomei (the ability of stopping the sword). Overall length: 43-7/8" Top end dimensions: 2-3/8" - 2-1/2" Handle length: 13" Pommel width: 1.5" Weight: 4 pounds 9 ounces "As I was sanding it down the vibrant reddish color of the bark really jumped out at me, so I decided to keep it on. During the sanding process the bark will typically fall off as the wood dries. I tried a few different techniques and found a way to keep the bark permanently in place". - Rafael Kosche Our South American Strawberry Guava is harvested directly from the source, and handcrafted in our shop. Guava normally grows as a bush, but the hardest, heaviest, and straightest pieces come from South America. While bokken are safer for sparring and practice than katanas, they are still lethal weapons in the hands of trained users. A famous legend to this effect exists involves Miyamoto Musashi, a ronin known to fight fully armed foes with only one or two bokkens. According to the story, he agreed to a duel with Sasaki Kojiro at the early morning on Ganryūjima island, a tiny sandbar between Kyushu and Honshu. Musashi overslept the morning of the duel, however, and hastily made his way to the duel late. He carved a crude bokken from an oar with his knife while traveling on a boat to the duel. At the duel, Sasaki was armed with his large nodachi, yet Musashi crushed Sasaki's skull with a single blow from his bokken, killing him. While many elements of the story are likely apocryphal, the potential danger of a bokken from the legend is real.
