Friends from a nearby dojo have developed an addiction to doing suburi with a device that looks like a bicycle pump. When recently asked for my opinion of such a thing, I took the view that if the ZNKR had thought it a good idea, they would have issued a book on “kendo kihon practise with a bicycle pump” or “jitensha no kūki-ire ni yoru kendo keikoho”.
Apparently the device in question is supposed to slide open if you make a correct swing and stay closed if you don’t. I think it might be improved if it rang a bell or made a honking noise for each successful yuko datotsu. It may be that my view is coloured by the intransigence of old age, or the fact that on the one occasion I tried one out, it stubbornly refused to slide open for me, but the use of this piece of paraphernalia smacks of what my less charitable golfing or skiing friends would refer to as “all the gear and no idea”.
To be fair, I am not totally against new developments in kendo, but this joins the carbon fibre shinai and the men with a Perspex face panel in my list of unloved kit, particularly as the aforementioned men had a tsukidare which was fixed solidly to the mengane. In the event of the wearer receiving a tsuki the whole men tilted forward, either pushing the men towel over his or her eyes or falling off completely. I am also not a lover of cameras mounted on the men or shinai, that is unless you are trying to make a kendo equivalent of The Blair Witch Project.
More traditional items also go on my list. I have never understood the value of suburi with heavy suburi bokken. These invariably cause the user to engage too much arm and shoulder power to avoid cutting down too far, in effect making tenouchi before striking the men.
The ideal suburi aid should help us closely replicate the action of striking the men sharply and firmly in an “up, down” timing of one. It should allow us to focus on hitting the top of the men whilst cutting through to the opponent’s chin level. It should encourage us to use shoulders elbows and wrists on a relaxed and flexible way to transmit the power from our core. I know of the ideal tool to use for this. It is called a shinai.
kendoinfo.net 
Interesting feedback but since the Men-nari was invented by Yoshida Hiromitsu, Hachidan Kyoshi, I think there are some advantages in using it…
I use a golf device that measures swing speed and have found it useful for students trying to measure improvement. It is basically the same length as a 3.9 shinai and weight is close so the key being the delta in your swing. It does nothing to improve your swing but if you have a repeatable process you can get a fairly accurate measurement of any significant delta in swing speed.
When I first went to Japan they had a pile of shinai where two of the take had been cut out above the handle. The children’s class used them for tenouichi practice where they had to make the end move as much as possible after stopping the shinai during suburi. I never got around to making one myself.
First you failed to cut through London Evening Standard now you have failed to stretch a bicycle pump. You are confessing to many errors in this blog.
But jokes aside.
Central question is : Whether this tool helps students to learn proper cuts faster ? What are your observations sensei ?
Hi Jacek
I would imagine that it would help people make a smooth swing in a straight line. I don’t think that it will help develop sae and tenouchi.
Don’t forget to wear a condom in your shinai before keiko or you can get martial aids…………………….ok, i go away now
Anybody wants to know how a cut feels like? Tameshigiri until you get it right!