Chigiri
The Chigiri
or
That phantom metal square at the bottom of my shinai....
I call it that, because the first thing that I and many MANY other people thought on taking apart Your First Shinai (available from Fisher Price and all good toy stores) was "what the hell is that, and what the hell does it do?"
Well, its called a chigiri, and its there to aid holding the shinai together at the bottom and prevent up and down movement of the take within the leather fittings of the shinai.
Now, thats all well and good in a shinai with 4 (roughly...) matching bits, but what happens when you need to frankenstien a shinai together from 2 broken ones? Well......read on.....
Step 1
Lay the take out flat next to each other and mark each one in the same place with the writing implement of your choice. Make sure the marks are directly next to each other on each take, otherwise it won't work and you'll feel like a dick head after step 2.
Step 2
Next, get a small hacksaw, with a nice sharp blade, and cut a SMALL groove into the take, enough only to slot the chigiri into. Now, hold the take next to each other when you have done this for each one, and see if you feel like a plum, or a hacksaw-king.
Step 3
Slot your chigiri into your take, and assemble your shinai as normal. Tally ho!
And thats your lot, because I haven't done the pictures yet! Hah! Patience my young padawan, patience.
Back to the basic maintenance page.
