The cord-wrapped handle is a great idea, offering more of a real sword-like look as well as a firmer grip. My hands tend to get sweaty and slip around a bit with long practice, particularly with the sealed lacquered finish on most bokken. This wrap really helps (though it needed a touch of glue to get it to stay in place). The two-piece guard design is a nice enhancement too. Though you really don't need the guard at all for many applications it is nice looking and appears stronger than the original.

It's still a fairly cheap piece of wood, compared to an ironwood version, but at this price (it was $9.99 when I bought it) you really can't go wrong. A nice enhancement over the basic bokken. I do, however, prefer the natural wood version to this one as it looks pretty bad once you start using it and the color scrapes off. Nevertheless, if you want an inexpensive practice sword this one is recommended...
4 stars

Bought this sword to practice and workout with. Is a great find for the workout or just collecting enthusist of Japanese-inspired equipment. The sword is nicely made and handles well. It comes nearly ready to use right out the box and looks good. The only drawback is the fact that the guard for the sword is not attached at requires some ingenity to attach properily and to stay attached. 4 stars

it is the best wodden sword i have ever bought! it can a numerous amount of blows(like 3 million) and is a lot of fun to use. they are really sturdy and can slice through most stuff (not like stone or anything.lol.). the wood was darker than shown but oh well! 5 stars

This one looked pretty good, but I wasn't pleased with it. I had an earlier plain bokken made of oak which I liked a lot, and sadly gave to a friend. I thought this one would be similar but the wood was extremely fragile, mine cracked and chipped just doing some light sparring against padded swords. Aesthetically it's not altogether pleasing either, it's lumpy and irregular when you look close up. I'm trying to figure out which one I bought the first time. 1 star

this woked great for me...
i ordered it and it even came ahead of sced...
i go this and the black one and this was the beter of the two..
i use it to spar with a friend and it holds up well...my only complaint is thet the finish comes off rather quickly but all in all it is a good practice weapon and i would sugest this to anyone 4 stars