Great price... safe and yet can be struck.
Pastor Dave  

Good product at a good price.  

Good product at a good price.  

I loved this shoto because I'm a practitioner of iaijutsu. I use this not only for kata(waza) but also for tachi freestyle. If you are interested in finding a safe way to practice with a wakizashi sized blade I recomend this one. One other thing the shoto does have a thick body so its hard to get on the tsuba.  

A great light weapon and is highly maneuverable. I'm loving it. It actually feels more like a long knife than a short sword, so I got a second one for dual knife sparring. I didn't even bother to put the handle on though, it works fine without it.  

I ordered this, and two bokken in different orders. The bokken and shoto are excellent quality. Twice though the packages had been crushed by the shipping company, but the items inside were fine with the exception of some things missing. I called Karate Depot and they were very nice, and shipped replacements without any questions or issues. The Tsuba and retaining rings for my Bokken and the Shoto were among the missing items. I was really happy to get them. The Tsuba may not fit tightly on the Shoto or Bokken, but the fix is very easy.. Electrical tape can be used to wrap the blade where the Tsuba is supposed to sit, and then you can put on the retaining ring for a snug fit. Mine don't move much at all. This is an excellent value.  

This is very good for training. The hardwood has followed through with the name. The tsuba was a disapointment hence four stars but other than that the bokken is very...........amazing.

P.S. if you want to mess around with the tsuba go ahead I found it easier to just leave it behind.  

These red Oak shoto are very solid and perfect for sparring. I had one problem, The Tsubas were very difficult to put on, about 65% of the way down, I had to pound on the tsuba for it to get all the way down. I dont even need the rubber stopper, but i put that on anyway  

I bought a shoto as the other half in my bokken daisho, and I have used others that my friends have bought. The actual body of the shoto is solid, and none have broken yet. However, none of the tsubas fit correctly on to the sword. They wobble around, but with a little electrical tape, they work fine.