looking for iaito

An opportunity has opened up for me to study iaido locally. I'm looking for a supplier of moderate/low to low priced iaito (I realize the quality will reflect and I'm ok with that). I want to stick with something low priced to start with until I'm sure I want to continue the practice.

Thanks,

Bronson

First, ask your instructor what they recommend. Different schools prefer different things, particularly when it comes to length. A standard kendo kata bokuto should do fine in the beginning.

Then, when you know what you want, there are plenty of places that sell iaito. Take a look at:

Mugendo Budogu

BoguBag

Nosyuiaido

Tozando

My iaito is from Nosyu (pronounced "no-shoe") and I like it quite a bit. All the other people I know who purchased theirs there are happy as well. I can't speak to the others.

I was going to start a thread about this, but I guess I'll just latch on to this one.

Can anyone account for the quality of these two suppliers' iaito. I'm trying to decide between the two.

http://sdksupplies.netfirms.com/cat_iaito.htm

http://budogu.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/page1.html

I've heard that Peter Boylan's stuff is excellent, but I've ordered through Sei Do Kai before, and love the bokuto and jo that I bought through them. Arg! I can't choose! Help? Anyone?

Sarah, off to Aikido

Sarah Fowler (Arianah) wrote: I've heard that Peter Boylan's stuff is excellent, but I've ordered through Sei Do Kai before, and love the bokuto and jo that I bought through them. Arg! I can't choose! Help? Anyone? Sarah, off to Aikido

I know Peter. His stuff is OK though what he calls mid-grade I would call low-grade.

Frankly it's overated. Last I looked, his low-end was priced at $350. Sei Do Kai's low-end is $318 and about the same quality. Both have been known to ship iaito of questionable quality. In their defense, this IS the low-end and as far as I know they have made good on correcting any problems unlike Tozando which is much more hit and miss.

Personally, I would spend a few more bucks and buy a basic Nosyuiaido iaito.

The word-of-mouth on the consistency of quality has been uniformly positive for Nosyuiaido. Check them out

www.swordstore.com

before you decide.

Craig

Craig Hocker (kironin) wrote: ... as far as I know they have made good on correcting any problems unlike Tozando which is much more hit and miss....

I just have to say that that's not entirely true. I received an Iaito from Tozando about 9 months ago, and I am very pleased with the quality of it. However they had fitted it with a different tsuba than the one I ordered. I wrote a mail about this and was emidiately offered the choice between a new tsuba or a discount on my next purchace. I asked for the replacement tsuba but it apparently got lost in the mail. One more mail went out and a new tsuba was mailed to me - this time as a parcel, so it had a parcelnumber so it could be tracked, and it got here realy quick.

In conclusion: I have no problem with the level of error-correcting and the level of service at Tozando. On top of this I like my iaito. It's on the heavy side (like me ) but that's what I like.

I have heard good things about nosyuiaido too, but I find they are a bit pricy on their low-end iaito's.

Bronson,

Check your pm's.

Mark

I have one of the basic Nosyu models and they are well-fitted and will stand up to a ton of abuse. A few people at my dojo have ordered from Tozando and they seem to have received good quality items. I don't think you would go wrong with either, but if you don't need a longer sword and want to get in as cheap as possible your best choice is probably the KA-15 from Tozando which is on sale for the incredible price of $150.

As far as Tozando service goes, it can be patchy but I have had a similar experience to Jorgen's where they really went the extra mile to correct a problem. I buy a lot of stuff from them and will continue to do so in the future. In fact, I may even get a new iaito while they are on sale.

Hey everyone, thanks for all the help and suggestions. I've decided to go with the Tozando iaito that's on sale. Thanks for the offer Mark, had there not been a sale I would have taken you up on it

Thanks again,

Bronson