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Monday, 2 November 2026

Aikido Club Hanko

We recently produced a small hanko for an Aikido club. Usulally Organisation hanko are 24 x 24mm, but our client had specifically asked for a smaller hanko. We always say "Custom is what we do best"


The graphic design sent to the client

We recommended not going smaller than 15.5mm x 15.5mm bacause of the number of kana that were to be represented. Organisational stamps are in a square format, where as personal hanko are round or oval.

Reigate is in katakana as it is a foreign word and Aikido club is represented in kanji. 

The self inking stamp

If you are interested in having some stamps made, just drop us a e mail with your requirements to sotosabisu@btinternet.com and we can guide you through the process.

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

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.


Wednesday, 30 September 2026

Traditional International style A3 Dan Certificate

We recently worked with a group in Scotland to produce a traditional International style A3 Dan Certifictae. 

The basis of the certificate template is a standard design and then is customised with group details, logo, Chief Instructor details etc. This works out about only half the cost of a fully custom certificate and follows the format issued by most Japan based organisations.


Always nice to see a photo of Dan Certificates being presented - Congratulations to Stuart McLean on promotion to Sandan.


If you would like to explore certificate options for your group just drop us a mail to sotosabisu@btinternet.com

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


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.



Seal Script Hanko and Personal Hanko

We recently produced some seal script hanko and examiner stamps for Chireikai. 

The organisation stamps are in Japanese kanji and we outsource the production of the seal script from our partners in Japan before completing the graphic design for the stamp.

The personal examiner stamps are in katakana.


If you are interested in having some stamps made, just drop us a e mail with your requirements to sotosabisu@btinternet.com and we can guide you through the process.

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

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.

Thursday, 11 December 2025

Nafudakake for Ronin

It is not always the case that a martial artist is strongly attached to any particular group. 
Sometimes their grade may have been awarded by a previous instructor, or organisation.
If this is the case it may not be appropriate to add the details of the current group, implying that it had been awarded, or verified by the current organisation. It can also be just personal preference.

When this is the case the ryu can be added to the first nafuda. 
The nafudakake is read from right to left, so in this case the nafuda reading Shotokan and depicting the Shotokan tiger is the first nafuda.

This presentation piece was made from European oak in our classic black frame.
When there are no light coloured logo, black text and graphics are a great strong contrast to the oak nafuda. 

We believe oak also symbolises tradition, so is a very much suited to this type of commission.

Nafudakake in European oak.

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

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.

Monday, 1 December 2025

A Godan (5th Dan) Black Belt Certificate

Here we have a Godan (5th Dan) certificate for Total Shotokan Karate.

Our congratulations to Daniel on your recent promotion, many thanks to the group for forwarding the presentation photo, greatly appreciated.

 
The Graphics for the custom certificate

The Presentation

If you would like to explore certificate options for your group just drop us a mail to sotosabisu@btinternet.com

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


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.



Friday, 28 November 2025

Notice of cost increases for 2026

 We are holding prices until the end of the year and advise all our customers that the "Shop" page will be updated in late December.

This will be restricted to material cost increases that we are unable to absorb approximately 4.5%

Any order received before the end of December will be billed at our current 2025 rates.

Tuesday, 18 November 2025

The Aikido Nafudakake

We seem to have had a bit of a run on commissions that are a little more challenging, and take a fair bit additional design time up. 
We were working with Maksym from Poland who was looking for a presentation piece to recognise fifty years of budo of their chief instructor.
It was unusual in a way, because it was important to capture rankings from four separate disciplines. These would normally be on individual nafuda, but that would overwhelm the piece. In the end we used a double width nafuda for the grades and disciplines and balanced the piece with two single nafuda each side.
We had to recreate the Aikido Aikikai logo from scratch as we could not find a suitable vector image online. 
We probably went a little "above and beyond" with this project, but at the end of the day we were celebrating a budoka with fifty years dedication. Worth a little bit of extra time on our part I think.
The nafuda were made from Canadian hard maple as the light colour is best as a background for logo, especially if yellow is included.
It was an absolute pleasure working with Maksym on this one, hope it arrives safely in Poland in the next few days.

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

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.