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.

"Click" to go to - Nafuda section shop page

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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.

"Click" to go to - Certificates section shop page

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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.

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.

"Click" to go to - Nafuda section shop page

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The formal - informal nafudakake

We recently had a request from a karateka that wanted to commission a nafudakake for their instructor. However, this was a little different; it was not an individual presentation piece, but a nafudakake for the instructors home dojo.

I suggested a slightly different format may suit the commission, and proposed just using Christian names and using a single nafuda with the instructor's club logo, their Surname followed by family dojo.

We have never used this format before, but as we have said in the past "custom is what we do best". 

We really like the way it turned out, what do you think, does it work well for a home dojo?

 

Nafudakake for a home dojo

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

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Examiner Stamps

We recently produced some examiner stamps for Nishikan Martial Arts. 

They requested hanko with both Christian and Surname so we selected the oval profile, which is better suited to a larger number of kana.

We start by producing a translation into katakana, and then resize into the profile template for the stamp.

After production we will do a test stamp to ensure that everything is fully quality controlled before shipping.

Happy stamping guys.

The graphic design and the final inkan in red on the left

The examiner self inking stamps ready for shipping

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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Senjokai Nafudakake

We recently produced a third nafudakake (name rank board) for Senjokai in Scotland.

The club is growing and they needed more space to display their Yudansha ranks

Many thanks to Senjokai for the installed photos.

 

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

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WTKO Participation Certificate

Earlier in the Summer it was a special privilege to be asked to produce the attendance certificates for the WTKO Camp. 

I understand that the certificates were vey well received by attendees.

The Completed Certificates

The WTKO design

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

"Click" to go to - Certificates section shop page

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Wado Ryu Mokuroku

Here is the Wado Ryu mokuroku recently commissioned by Hull Zanshin karate club. 

We also produce a couple of Shotokan versions and even a Wing Chun Jo Fen. 

We are also happy to work with any style to produce a custom version to suit your needs.

Wado Ryu Mokuroku

Mokuroku fitted at Hull Zanshin Dojo

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

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

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Dojo Nameboards - Kanban

Here are a couple of Kanban that we made for Hull Zanshin Karate club. 

The first is the clubs style or Ryu - Wado Ryu and the second is the clubs name. 

These were made from an engineered oak plywood board, of which we only have limited stock left. Typically we make our kanban from hardwood veneered medium-dense fibre board with balancer. 

These boards are far more stable than a solid piece of hardwood and there is also a material cost saving. 

Kanban are priced by number of kanji ranging from base cost of £245.00 up to £336.00 for 11 kana. to replace a scroll.

Wado Ryu

Hullo Zanshin Karate Club

The Dojo looks great with the finished nameboards

Wado Ryu plaque installed in Hull Zanshin Dojo

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

"Click" to go to - Plaques and Name Board section shop page

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Plaques

We produced a couple of plaques for the WTKO summer camp. 

One was a gift for a Senior Instructor who was teaching on the camp, and the other was from students of the organiser of the camp.

To find out more about these plaques and our range, click on the links in the sidebar, please take a look and drop us a mail to sotosabisu@btinternet.com with details of your project.

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

"Click" to go to - Plaques and Name Board section shop page

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Personal and grade hanko

 Some name and grade hanko for senior grades. We work with a few across many martial arts and this particular group use knaji representations for names, rather than a katakana translation. Kanji translation / representation is not a service we offer inhouse but we can produce hanko from client provided translations.

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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A3 Dan Certificates

Here we have a few examples of A3 Dan certificates produced for various groups over the last year. 

A3 Dan Certificate for the EKF

Nishikan A3 Dan Certificate

Kempo Karate A3 Dan Certificate

BSKA  A3 Dan Certificate

Ren Ryu A3 Dan Certificate

 

"Option A" the fully individual certificate with the recipient's name in katakana and date in the imperial calendar format in kanji remains by far the most popular option. 

 The current costings for the certificates are on the website in the shop section, but a normal budget to produce your groups custom template would be around £110/£120. A budget for a full custom certificate, perhaps copying an existing kanji text that you currently use would be around £230.00 

After that individual recipient certificates are translated and designed and sent to you as a high resolution pdf for printing at your local printers. Costs range from £12.75 to £16.50 each depending on volume.

We also offer printing on glossy white card or parchment, but the majority of our customers arrange their own printing to save cost, postage and risk of damage in transit.

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.

"Click" to go to - Certificates 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.