Machine stitched bogu and hand stitched bogu has several differences that you should know.
Machine Stitched Bogu:
- Lightweight
- Reasonable price
- Fast to break into
Hand Stitched Bogu:
- Great for absorbing impacts
- Beautiful appearance
- Fits into your body once it breaks into it
Made in Japan Custom Bogu Set - Kyokuho
Machine stitched bogu is more common to all level kendokas. Especially for beginners.
Since the old days, we often hear that "Machine stitched bogu is more painful than the hand stitched bogu".
This is actually half correct, but it is not always true.
Bogu's padding is made by compressing the stack of layers of felt.
The more layers there are, the less painful it will be.
However, there's a limit to how many layers you can stack due to the structure of the machne.
Therefore, machine stitched bogu is devised to be less painful when its created.
Unlike machine stitched bogu, there is no space limitation, so more layers can be stacked to create the paddings.
Thus, hand stitched bogu feels less painful.
**This varies depending on the bogu.
Also, hand stitched bogu fits into your body very well because it actually uses a different kinds of felt inside.
Hand stitched bogu uses special sheets of felt made out of animal fir and a sheet of silk cotton.
These combination will create fine balance of softness and stiffness.
Additionally, it uses a glue made from boiling an animal bones.
This glue melts from the body temperature while wearing a bogu.
As you receive strikes, the bogu reforms into your body shape.
The glue hardens when cooled and remains in its shape.
This is only possible with the hand stitched bogu since there is no limit to how much sheets of felt can be stacked.
Whereas, the machine stitched bogu has a limit due to the machine's structure.
Thus, it uses a compressed felt.
What kind of bogu do you wear?
