Cold Steel Bokken Martial Arts Polypropylene Training Sword (Black) Expired

It should go without saying, but you should not rely on this for a self defense weapon. One night, about two dozen guys with machine guns and riot armor broke into my home. I was able to defeat them all with this, but that's only because I've been training in the way of the blade my entire life (and it actually broke about halfway through or so, and I had to defeat the rest of them using hand to hand combat techniques, but I was able to use the broken pieces to take down their chopper with a well timed throw as it was fleeing). For the average and untrained person, you should use this only for training/practice purposes

For the price, this is a pretty good training tool. If you actually do bokken to bokken 3 step sparring drills, this will last you much longer than a low quality wood bokken in this price range. That being said, it does not give off the nice crisp crack of a proper wooden bokken or shinai. If you want to practice forms and stuff, this would be good for that as well. If you are a sport-karate player that does sword forms, this will be heavier than your competition weight type demo-swords. This version has the imitation grips which look nice and are great for use with gloves, but it does wear on your palms with extended use. It is not as forgiving as a proper Ito wrap. They same to have versions with a textured grip without the pseudo Ito wrap as well.

If you want something to train with to wield an actual katana, you would be better served getting the suburito version. It has a heftier weight that is actually a good workout and will develop your strength and endurance a lot better than this one.
Found here: https://www.amazon.com/Cold-Steel...B07MZWVNY2
Just note that the suburito is not fun for beginners due to the weight.

If you just want something fun that does not break when you accidentally hit a tree or brick wall with it, get this one.
Just do not get it close to your TV/Monitor/Dry wall, as it can dent a hole in it with blunt force if you are spacial awareness challenged.
It is not sharp, but even a Wii controller can destroy your TV.

I would buy a pair of these, just to mess around with my buddies, if I did not already have too many trainers.
Wear hockey gloves if you do not have proper Kendo Kote gloves. They are cheap at your local sport gear reseller stores.

Must... not... buy...