Kendo clothing and bogu (equipment) consists of the following:

1. shinai
2. keikogi
3. hakama
4. men, kote, do, tare, tenugui (see equipment manual)

At Norwalk Dojo, beginners use shinai (bamboo swords) from the first day of practice. After that there is a set of guidelines for when beginners are allowed to begin wearing different items of clothing and bogu.

The basic parts of the shinai are labeled below:

The monouchi is the optimal point on the shinai for executing an effective cut. It is similar in concept to the "sweet spot" in other sports implements.

The image below illustrates how to tie the nakayui:

The image below illustrates tying various parts of the shinai (click on it for an enlargement):

The table below (from e-bogu.com) summarizes shinai sizes:

SHINAI SIZE REGULATION
	Gender	Jr. High School	High School	University Adult
		Size 37	Size 38	Size 39 (Women:38 or 39)
Length (cm)	Male& Female	less than 114	less than 117	less than 120
Weight (g)	Male	more than 440	more than 480	more than 510
	Female	more than 400	more than 420	more than 440
Tip Diameter (mm)	Male	more than 25	more than 26	more than 26
	Female	more than 24	more than 25	more than 25
SHINAI SIZE BY AGE
Ages			Size
4-6 years old			Size 32
7-9 years old			Size 34
10-12 years old			Size 36
13-15 years old			Size 37

The image below illustrates folding the keikogi (click on it for an enlargement):

The image below illustrates folding the hakama (click on it for an enlargement):

(see also this more complete description)

The following equipment manual sections (pdf) were downloaded from the Fukuda Budogu site. See each section for details on construction, usage, and how to care for your bogu.

• 1 intro; shinai
• 2 keikogi and hakama
• 3 tare and do
• 4 men and tenugui
• 5 maintenance; conclusion