designed and written by Matt Stennett, Dojo-cho of Jinenkan Seigi Dojo

Materials Needed:

-         1 piece of soft synthetic rope, 28.75” long (length can be customized to your body if desired) by 5/8” in diameter

-         2 pieces of flannel, 36” x 5.5”

-         Strong thread, a needle, and probably a thimble or something to protect your thumb as you push the needle through so many layers of flannel

Assembly Instructions: 

1.         Cut the rope to the desired length and melt the ends with a candle so they won’t unravel. 

2.         Lay the first piece of flannel flat and iron it, so it looks like this (Figure 1):

Figure 1

 3.         Fold the piece of flannel lengthwise so both ends meet in the middle (Figure 2), and then iron it flat again (Figure 3).

      Figure 2                                                            Figure 3

  4.         Lay the rope so that one end is flush with the end of the flannel (Figure 4), and roll it tightly up so it looks like Figure 5 when seen from the end.

                        Figure 4                                                            Figure 5

 5.         Sew the rolled flannel to the rope lengthwise once so it divides the roll in half and looks like Figure 6 from the end.  Make sure each stitch passes completely through all of the flannel layers on BOTH sides as well as the rope in the middle, and the knots are tied securely at each end so the thread won’t unravel under hard use.

Figure 6

 6.         Sew the roll again lengthwise but perpendicular to the first row of stitching so it looks like this (Figure 7) from the end when you are finished:

Figure 7

7.         Sew lengthwise twice more halfway in between each row of stitching so you now have eight “puffy” sections of flannel lengthwise and it looks like this (Figure 8) from the end:

Figure 8

8.         Take a deep breath, rest your sore thumb, and stop cussing me for getting you started on this project – then do all this over again for the other end of the rope and second piece of flannel.

 9.         Enjoy your new training kusari fundo that allows you to hit and grapple with your partner repeatedly and not do serious damage!