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Bōgu


Bōgu (防具?, "armour"), properly called kendōgu (剣道具?, "kendo equipment"), is training armour used primarily in the Japanese martial art of kendo, with variants used for jukendo, naginatajutsu, and sojutsu.

During the Edo period (1603-1868) the use of real swords for training purposes was discouraged due to injuries, wooden practice swords in the form of bokken/bokuto and shinai were often used instead, and to further reduce injuries practice armour based on traditional samurai armor was developed, this practice armour was the basis for the modern bōgu.

The word "bōgu" consists of two parts: meaning "protect" or "defend," and gu meaning "equipment" or "tool." A set of bogu has four components:

A fifth component, sune-ate (脛当て?) (shin protectors, or greaves), are worn by naginatajutsu practitioners.

The men protects the face, neck, and shoulders. It consists of a facemask with several horizontal metal bars running the entire width of the face, from the chin to the top of the head. To this is attached a long rectangular thick cloth padding that curves over the top of the head and extends to cover the shoulders. A throat protector is attached to the bottom of the facemask. The men is held in place with a pair of woven cords that wrap around the head and are tied at the back. The back of the men is left open for ventilation and the back of the head is unprotected. The target areas of the men are the centre top, and upper left and right sides for cutting strikes and the centre of the throat protector for a thrust.


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