Suburi Practice

Interesting observation. ^^

Bokken is ok as its surface is smooth but the leather wrap on the shinai is not as smooth and quick, highly repetitive movement causes the blistering especially when the palm sweats. But using shinken for this purpose is a nightmare. That's why in the old days, 1 strike is 1 kill. No fancy blade to blade choreography.

I used to get a lot of blisters, and now they occur less often

When we do suburi, we don't wear kote ^^

Aikss...
Wear Kote also can get blisters ka?

I think everyone would agree if I say "We get blisters on our left hands all the time because of our shinais" Hahaha. The presence of blisters on the right locations indicates that we are gripping our shinais correctly during suburi. So, yes I guess it is safe to say that we have all experienced the same hahaha.

I would normally practice suburi using a white oak bokken, heavy enough (for wood) compared to other normal bokken to approach a realistic experience of using a shinken.

So far I still feel the lacking of the natural power from gravity as the shomen is being performed, so my sensei granted permission to try using a shinken. To my surprise, it ended up with blisters in my left palm. Has anyone experienced the same? I wonder if it is the technique problem resulting this... Also wondering how tough it was in the ancient days for swordsman practicing suburi using a shinken with >200 strikes every morning and afternoon.

A good thing Kendoka uses leather wrapped shinai....