eddiez: "BOB" sounds like some contraption you can replicate by putting your men and do on a chair and hitting them....hardly worth the $300...

Though I should warn you - those metal-framed hitty dummies (uchikomidai) - are pretty expensive. Most that I've seen in catalogs or in stores go for several hundred dollars, well over what it costs for a dirt cheap set of bogu.

I just got the 2002 Moribudo catalog in the mail last week, and they have this neat uchikomidai which has not one, but two variable height positions to hold the shinai, and is designed for people practicing nidan-waza. Very pricey.

I'd say - either try making your own (it's not that hard - a friend of mine tried), or get a real human opponent as a dummy. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/smile.gif

E-Bogu has a hitting dummy. Go to E-Bogu web page. Type "hit" in search area. There is a nice pic. It does cost $900.00 us

My teacher has one that he made that works pretty well. He got a old tire still mounted on the rim and filled it with concrete. Then using some heavy duty L-brackets he bolted the rim to a 6" x 6" post, attached a cross piece for arms and fitted go cart tires for all the targets. The head is a little tricky but it has lasted a long time and isn't too hard on the shinais.

Our club actually just made a hitting dummy with 6' wooden post, anchored in a cement patio block, which is attached to a flat platform that has wheels on the bottom. The men is a tire, the do (our instructor's old do) is attached to wooden 'shoulders' with a tire underneath so that it doesn't move around too much. We also have a tsuki made out of foam pucks that are bound with duct tape. It looks pretty cool and works very well.

Has anyone seen the diagram of the hitting dummy in 'Complete Kendo' (by Hiroshi Ozawa if I'm not mistaken?) it's got a lineart picture of a hitting dummy on a stand, it's shaped like an upside down L so that you can run right through, and the striking target is moutned on some sort of pulley system, so that when you strike it, the target drops down, and then flips back up-- apparently the idea being that you hit it, and then go through, and if you're too fast, you get smacked in the face, and if you're too slow going through, it will wrap you on the head as you pass by, sounds pretty cool... anyone ever seen oen of these in real life?

Hi there

Friends from a Dojo not so far from outs have a home made uchikomi dai; they made the frame of sturdy but cheap wood, got some really really worn out set of bogu on it and voila. It's very good I think. much better than going off for 400 bucks or so.

The wooden structure is basically a 4-piece base, a pole about the size of a japanese guy (i.e 1,65m), a prong which is the right arm and a rectangular piece on the 'head'.

I'll see if I can find a picture of our hitting dummy. It works rather well. Works even better if you have an old do to attach.

Take a look at

http://arizona-shinkendo.com/dotangiri.html

It's a do it yourself stand for developing strength for overhead cuts in tamishigiri. The design sounds bombproof, especially when you consider that the guys says you should use a subrito because bokken are too light!

If you make it, let me know what you think, because I am thinking about doing it myself (if I can figure out where to put so the wife doesn't freak out).

I need a place to strike Do, just Do is all i care about, any suggestions....

ps, i don't want to jack up my shinais

If you order a hard copy catalogue from any of the Japanese sites (Mori Budo, Koei/Eguchi, Nakanishi, etc), they usually have pics in them.

http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/smile.gif

b

Hey all,

As promised, here is a picture of my club's hitting dummy that a few of our members fashioned.

ugh...now i have to find another tire...and i just got some new ones from cosco...man, i knew i shouldn't have given those old ones to them....

saving the enviroment, BAH!

The cheapest way is to strap your younger brother in bogu and wack at him! Ahh... my elementary school days, good times... http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/smile.gif

On a more serious note, one method is to use PVC piping. It is fairly strong, easy to cut, and has many joints so you can MacGyver a system up in no time at all.

There is an old thread over @ e-budo in which the discussion of uchikomidai comes up:

• Developing striking skills

...Are there not a couple images of kids striking an uchikomidai in Ozawa's kendo book? (I can't remember and do not have access to the book at the moment).

Tyres are definitely the go I reckon (thanks for tip about the carpet Hongsmeier). I worked out two ways of using them.

1) Just hang the bastard up from a high cross beam in the garage or somewhere spacious. You can then adjust the height for men, do or tsuki. The slow swinging of the tyre adds a dynamic/timing element.

or

2) If you just want a static target to practice sho-men like Mr Uchida in the 8-dan doco, get two tomato stakes each about 2 metres long (really cheap from garden supplies), tie the blunt ends together with rope or thick cord. Spead the bottoms of the stakes out to form a shape like this: /\ . Go to the nearest high fence and jam the bottoms into the ground where the fence meets the ground. Tie the top to the fence but let it lean out about 15 degrees. Pop the tyre on top. Voila! you've got a stand that you wont run into the base of.

http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/smile.gif
b

Will,
If you have a post with a tire on it to strike, try puting some carpet or other material on it to protect the shinai. I will try to have some pic's of the dummy I made avaliable by this coming weekend.

that would be great- I've been really curious as to what one of these things actually looks like in real life-

The trick is, I think, to design a base that's sturdy enough without having to use too many spreading supports, so you can cut and follow through (a little).

The tameshigiri stand that Lewis mentions above is meant for practising strikes with both feet firmly planted. Not really suitable for cuts with fumikomi.

b

Originally posted by kendo_chick
Our club actually just made a hitting dummy with 6' wooden post, anchored in a cement patio block, which is attached to a flat platform that has wheels on the bottom. The men is a tire, the do (our instructor's old do) is attached to wooden 'shoulders' with a tire underneath so that it doesn't move around too much. We also have a tsuki made out of foam pucks that are bound with duct tape. It looks pretty cool and works very well. Do you have a blue print of how to make this? If so it would be nice to share this infromation to everyone, possibly through a link where we could download it from?