Hokubei Budogu was born from Shinaimall.com. Even our logo is made with kanji characters for shinai "竹刀." We believe that kendo's most important equipment is a shinai, and we strongly believe that good shinai will lead to good kendo (among thousands of other kendo factors).

Hokubei Budogu might not be the fastest when it comes to delivery of our shinai, but we have reasons behind this. Many Shinai retailers order a massive inventory and keep them in storage. Chances are you may receive shinais, which sat in warehouses for prolonged periods, making the shinai brittle and break quickly. Hokubei Budogu avoids this by keeping a low inventory and circulating it as quickly as possible to ensure the bamboo is at its freshest phase when our kendo friends receive it or place your shinai into production when an order is received. This increases your shinai's durability and allows for safe practice of Kendo. 

We also continuously seek feedback from beginners to high-rank senseis for quality control and to continue improving our shinai's quality. 

All our shinai meet international regulations, and we make sure each shinai sent out goes through strict quality control.