Dojo Mokuroku - syllabus boards

Over the last few years we have had a few inquiries from Ju Jutsu and Aikido dojo regarding displaying dojo rules or syllabus ; for ease going forward I will use the term Mokuroku.

Up until now we have not been in a position to progress the inquiries past initial stages so we thought we would enter into a bit of research over the winter months to put us in a better position in the future.

We have come across a number of terms used, so I thought it might be an idea to explore these first.
Kyoka (curriculum board) - I believe Kyoka translates to permission or authority
Menkyo (Licence) used in the classical dan grading system
Densho - A set of Makimono (Maki)
Maki - scrolls
Mokuroku - syllabus or catalogue

We have prepared three graphics to give you an idea of  the sort of end results that could be achieved.

The scrolling image is above is our representation of Yamaoka Tesshu's Niju Kun. He was the founder of the Itto Shoden Muto Ryu which was a kenjutsu style.

The second mokuroku is our representation of just the first board of a dojo mokuroku. It includes the name of the Association and the kata name and the fourty-three moves from hitotsugachi (one-victory) through to hari (sweeping away).

The final example is again just the first board of a dojo mokuroku covering the Shoden (beginning transmission) It details Yawara (hand arts) and covers the twenty basics from katate hazushi (outside wrist grab release) to hagai shime (full-nelson escape)

Our specialty is in graphic design, layout and manufacture of your mokuroku. We do not offer a translation service as content is very detailed. You will need to supply us with an electronic copy of the contents, ideally in "Word" or similar. We can not work from Jpeg or picture images.

A guide to costings are below, international postage for very long items is very expensive so would need to be quoted on a job by job basis.

Custom Dojo Mokuroku
Size	Cost
A mokuroku similar to Tesshu Niju Kun 1560 x 330 mm	Price guide  £319.00
A Dojo mokuroku 2015 x 230 mm	Price guide £359.00
A Dojo mokuroku 1130 x 310 mm	Price guide £289.00
Available in various fonts
12 mm maple veneered mdf in black frame
"Click" to go to - Dojo Mokuroku page
Free Postage to UK Non-premium Post Codes
Europe / Worldwide Postage - £POA
Payments by BACS or Pay Pal at 5% Premium

If you have a project in mind just drop us an E Mail to sotosabisu@btinternet.com
Current costings can be found in the relevant shop page please click on the button below to view.

  

"Click" to go to - Kun and Mokuroku section shop page

Top Tip
If you are accessing this site on your phone you may wish to view the "Web version" and access the menu in the side-bar to navigate. Just scroll down for the link.

Niju Kun plaques

We are very excited to announce that we are adding two new Niju Kun plaques to our range.

You can choose to go for the standard plaque or "upgrade" and add your club or association kanji and logo.

Standard plaque - 805 x 650 mm

Custom plaque - 805 x 720 mm

The Niju kun are the twenty guiding principles of Shotokan Karate written by Gichin Funakoshi the founder of Shotokan.

The precepts are not numbered or ordered; each begins with hitotsu meaning "one" or "first" to show that each rule has the same level of importance as the others.

If  your existing logo is not a high enough resolution to use or you currently do not have one : we will provide our logo service with a 50% discount so you can include it in your plaque.


If you have a project in mind just drop us an E Mail to sotosabisu@btinternet.com
Current costings can be found in the relevant shop page please click on the button below to view.

"Click" to go to - Kun and Mokuroku section shop page

Top Tip
If you are accessing this site on your phone you may wish to view the "Web version" and access the menu in the side-bar to navigate. Just scroll down for the link.

Birthday gift to the Emerald Isle

We were recently contacted by an existing customer to make a Nafudakake as a birthday present. A nafudakake is an ideal gift because it shows you care. You have gone to the trouble to have something custom made which is pretty rare in this world of mass production.

We were also informed that the birthday was only 4 or 5 days away, a far bit inside our quoted turn round of 4 to 6 weeks ....

 The nafudakake was to incorporate the WTKO logo, the organisations stock kanji for their name, the recipients grade and finally the nafuda for his name.

The WTKO's kanji is imported to our graphics package and converted to a vector image. We then selected a font for the grade and name kanji that would complement the WTKO kanji. The font is bolder than our normal script or brush font but much closer to the WTKO kanji.

The nafudakake was completed within 5 days and posted out to Ireland, the nafuda were made from maple and wrapped in a black frame. It is very rare that we can turn a project round in a matter of days rather than weeks, but we do what we can.

If you have a project in mind just drop us an E Mail to sotosabisu@btinternet.com
Current costings can be found in the relevant shop page please click on the button below to view.

"Click" to go to - Nafuda section shop page

Top Tip
If you are accessing this site on your phone you may wish to view the "Web version" and access the menu in the side-bar to navigate. Just scroll down for the link.

New addition to Dojo Kun range

We recently produced  a club dojo kun plaque for JKS Shogai Karate as a solid board rather than on individual nafuda (tiles). We incorporated the clubs name in kanji and a custom vector image logo we developed from a low resolution image a club member had sent us.

We started with the logo, importing it into our graphic design package, unfortunately the resolution was too poor and had to reproduced it from scratch. If we convert your "high resolution" image there is no charge for vector conversion. If we have to reproduce from scratch or design a logo for you we will discount this service by 50%.

Above is our graphic design of the logo and below is the finished product. The white of the shotokan tiger was converted to clear to allow the maple to show through.

 The plaque is made from 12mm mdf with a grade "A" veneer on the face and grade "B" balancer on the reverse. This is far more stable than a solid piece of maple; which would warp and crack in a centrally heated environment at this size. 

The panel was sanded down to 320 grade and a few coats of sanding sealer are added, it is then french polished before the graphics are added.

Above is the graphic design and below the finished product.

We were really pleased with the finished plaque and thought we would add it o our range. The plaque in its frame measures 498 x 357mm and retails for £179.00 including P&P to non premium UK post codes. You can also choose to have mirror plates added or a normal cord for picture hanging. If you would like to commission a dojo kun plaque for your dojo just drop us an E Mail to sotosabisu@btinternet.com

Dojo Kun Plaque - Type "A"
Size	Cost
Club or Association Dojo Kun with Logo 498 x 357 mm	£179.00
Special Offer Club or Association Dojo Kun with custom Logo at half price 498 x 357 mm	£199.00
Available in "block" or "brush" font
12 mm maple veneered mdf in black frame
"Click" to go to - Dojo Kun page
Europe / Worldwide Postage - £22
Payments by BACS or Pay Pal at 5% Premium

Current costings can be found in the relevant shop page please click on the button below to view.

"Click" to go to - Kun and Mokuroku section shop page

Top Tip
If you are accessing this site on your phone you may wish to view the "Web version" and access the menu in the side-bar to navigate. Just scroll down for the link.

Nafudakake for Texas Dojo

We recently completed a project for Hakkoryu Nintai Dojo in Woodlands Texas, a gift from two newly promoted dan grades to their dojo.

The client chose for the nafudakake to be made in maple with an black frame. The montage shows the graphic design process through to the Nafudakake hanging in the dojo.

When you commission a project you can be sure that you will end up with a unique piece of art that is simply not available anywhere else.

If you have a project in mind just drop us an E Mail to sotosabisu@btinternet.com
Current costings can be found in the relevant shop page please click on the button below to view.

"Click" to go to - Nafuda section shop page

Top Tip
If you are accessing this site on your phone you may wish to view the "Web version" and access the menu in the side-bar to navigate. Just scroll down for the link.

Custom Hanko for Ensokan

I thought I would share a recent project completed for Ensokan Sogo Bujutsu Renmei where we produced a large custom self inking stamp. The client supplied a low resolution image of what they wanted and requested a large stamp that they could use on certificates.

Client supplied Graphic

We Imported the image into our graphic package so we could try and reproduce the border. Unfortunately the image was far too low a resolution. We converted the image to a vector image and then had to manually edit to correct node positions of just the top pattern. The bottom pattern was a mirror image.

We used a similar font to the original and inserted both katakana for the name and kanji for the title, rank, organisation and position. 教士 = Kyoshi, 六段 = 6th Dan, 円相館 = Ensokan and 会長 = Kaicho = president. 

Kai means association and a Dojocho is the owner of a dojo, Kaicho means president or chairman.

The finished stamp was 73.5mm x 37mm and is the largest stamp we have produced, it is not in our standard range and was costed separately for our client. All custom stamps are priced individually but as a guide a similar stamp with just a couple of hours graphic design would be around £60.00 inc P&P to UK non-premium post codes.

If you have a project in mind just drop us an E Mail to sotosabisu@btinternet.com
Current costings can be found in the relevant shop page please click on the button below to view.

"Click" to go to - Hanko and Inkan section shop page

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If you are accessing this site on your phone you may wish to view the "Web version" and access the menu in the side-bar to navigate. Just scroll down for the link.

Nafudakake for Minakami

We recently completed a project for Minakami Bushido Karate Dojo, a gift for their Instructor Brian Owen.
The design went though a few variations which is quiet normal.
The final draft graphic design is shown below.

The first tile is the logo. The file for the logo supplied was not of a high enough resolution to use so we re-made it from scratch and it is probably 99.5% accurate to the original, but a far superior quality.
The second tile reads "Minakami Bushido" - Minakami is a Japanese Surname and the kanji were sourced from our database.
The third tile reads "karate dojo" while the fourth and fifth are the rank nafuda (Godan) and the instructors name "Brian Owen".
We check katakana translations where possible and the client checked against Owen Sensei's belt to ensure that we used the same representation.

The client chose for the nafudakake to be made in oak with an oak frame. As is also shown in the graphic design the client decided not to add English translations at the bottom of each tile which is common on a lot of our products.

When you commission a project you can be sure that you will end up with a unique piece of art that is simply not available anywhere else.

If you have a project in mind just drop us an E Mail to sotosabisu@btinternet.com
Current costings can be found in the relevant shop page please click on the button below to view.

"Click" to go to - Nafuda section shop page

Top Tip
If you are accessing this site on your phone you may wish to view the "Web version" and access the menu in the side-bar to navigate. Just scroll down for the link.