In a recent, advanced, sword class one of the bokuto broke.
It struck me that this happens a lot less now days than it did in the olden times when we were first introduced to the practice of kiri kaeshi.
A combination of lack of skill, poor mental attitude and rubbish, store bought, weaponry, produced a lot of kindling.
Is very much a good indication of beginner versus senior as to how many bokuto they lose, is invariably the lower rank’s weapon that is destroyed.
For the most part, it is not the fault of the weapon when it breaks.
Of course, there is only so much punishment any wooden sword can take and the lifespan of a store bought product is severely limited by the lack of quality of the materials. And in the recent case of destruction, it was clearly bokuto fatigue that was the root cause and not user error.
Some of us are fortunate enough to have high quality, hand made, locally produced weapons as our bokuto of choice.
That said, no matter the quality of the weapons, (and here we end with our traditional admonition), there is no substitute for regular, focused training.
Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful
Musashi, Dokkodo
Kai Cho