Japanese Wooden Swords

Japanese wooden swords are called bo ken (normally written in English as bokken) meaning "wooden sword".

The Japanese wooden sword gets used in many Japanese martial arts, including Ken do (Kendo - the Way of the Sword) and Aiki do (Aikido - the Way of Peace and Harmony).

Ken-jutsu mostly uses the Bokken, the hard oak sword; while Ken-do makes use of the Shinai or split-bamboo practise sword. (Kendo players wear face-guards, protective gloves and armor as well.)

Although they are used as practice weapons for the Dojo, a bokken is still a formidable weapon.

My original Aikido teacher, Virginia Mayhew Sensei, told me decades ago that the Japanese regarded the wooden sword, the bokken as a "dirty weapon"...

Why dirty, you ask?

Well if you're cut to the head with a sword of steel, you're going to be very, very dead. But if someone smashes you in the head with a wooden sword, you can end up a human vegetable... Severely brain-damaged, but not "cleanly" dead.

For this reason, Japanese wooden swords are often regarded as "dirty" weapons when used in a real fight to the death.