Editing Bokken (section)

==Types==
''Bokken'' can be made to represent any style of weapon required such as [[nagamaki]], [[nodachi]], [[yari]], [[naginata]], [[kama (weapon)|kama]], etc. The most widely used styles are:

* ''daitō'' or ''tachi'' ([[katana]]-sized), long sword
* ''shōtō'' or ''kodachi'' or ''wakizashi bō'' ([[wakizashi]]-sized), short sword 
* ''tantō bō'' ([[tantō]]-sized)
* ''suburitō'' can be made in ''daitō'' and ''shōtō'' sizes

Various [[koryu]] (traditional Japanese martial arts) have their own distinct styles of ''bokken'' which can vary slightly in length, tip shape, or in whether or not a tsuba (hilt guard) is added.

The [[All Japan Kendo Federation]] specify the dimensions of ''bokken'' for use in the modern kendo kata, called ''Nippon kendo kata''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://zenkenren-shop.com/en/eigo/index.html#050106 |title=AJKF Online-shop : English version |publisher=Zenkenren-shop.com |access-date=2015-11-12 |archive-date=2015-11-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151104065749/http://zenkenren-shop.com/en/eigo/index.html#050106 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*[[Tachi]]: Total length, approx. {{convert|102|cm|abbr=on}}; ''tsuka'' (handle) approx. {{convert|24|cm|abbr=on}}.
*[[Kodachi]]: Total length, approx. {{convert|55|cm|abbr=on}}; ''tsuka'' (handle) approx. {{convert|14|cm|abbr=on}}.

''Bokken'' are traditionally composed of [[Quercus acuta|red oak]] or [[Quercus myrsinifolia|white oak]]. White oak varieties are slightly more expensive and prestigious.  Other common tree varieties used included [[ebony]], [[Loquat|biwa]], and [[Distylium|sunuke]] in Japan, and [[hickory]], [[persimmon]], [[ironwood]], and [[Juglans|walnut]] for trees native to the Americas.  Biwa trees were used at least partially due to a folk superstition that wounds inflicted by biwa wood would never heal.<ref name="lowry" />