Tameshigiri

Test cutting. For centuries it was how a Japanese sword, and the person holding it, proved they were ready.

Samurai armour on display beside the calligraphy 勇気, courage

The word

Tameshi (試し) means test. Kiri (斬り) means cut. Tameshigiri is the Japanese art of test cutting: proving a blade against a real target with one clean stroke.

A swordsman in samurai armour raising a katana in a forest

Proven on the blade

In Edo-period Japan (1603–1868), new swords were tested by specialist cutters before a samurai would trust them. The best results were engraved on the tang of the blade: a record of its quality, carried for life.

A sword master seated in a dojo with his student standing beside him

Passed hand to hand

Today it lives on in the dojo, taught from teacher to student. Rolled tatami mats, soaked overnight, are cut in a single stroke. Angle, edge, footwork and breath all have to be right. Nothing exposes a flaw like the cut.

We named our glove for the same idea. Every JPN glove is tested in real rounds of sparring, on our own hands, before it carries our name.

Graded by the strike.

Built in sparring. Tested on ourselves.

JPN started with a problem every serious fighter knows. The best Japanese boxing gear in the world was almost impossible to get. It cost thousands of dollars, and even then it could take months to arrive.

We wanted that craftsmanship in our own training, so we went straight to the source and started bringing gear out of Japan ourselves. What began as a search for our own gloves turned into an obsession. Friends wanted pairs. Then their gym mates did. JPN Glove Market was born.

But reselling other people's work was never going to be enough. We started designing our own gear, and we tested every glove we could find from every corner of the world, putting each one through real rounds in sparring. Every detail of what we make has been refined in our own training, on our own hands.

“No gym. No coach. Just each other.”

While we were building the brand, we didn't have a gym or a coach. So we coached each other. Ten rounds of sparring, every day. Three hours of mitt work after that. We studied the greatest fighters in history, broke down their technique, and drilled it until it was ours.

That is the standard every product is held to. If it can't survive our training, it doesn't carry our name.

JPN Glove Market became JPN Professional. Same obsession, higher standard.

The Founders

Liam

Kickboxer and boxer · Melbourne

Liam has been training combat sports for six years, starting in Muay Thai, and has 12 amateur fights across kickboxing and boxing. He is drawn to two of the richest boxing cultures in the world: Japan and Mexico.

He is learning Japanese to connect with Japanese fighters, and he taught himself fluent Mexican Spanish to connect with boxers from Mexico and the US. Mexican and Chicano boxing culture has a special place in everything he builds. Liam leads design at JPN.

@liamjamesonn

Harry

MMA fighter and Judoka · Albury Wodonga

Harry has done Judo his whole life. It runs in the family: his father and grandfather were Judoka with deep ties to Japan, where they competed. He has 8 amateur MMA fights and has also competed in boxing.

Harry speaks fluent Japanese, a language he learned through a lifelong passion for Japan, and he is deeply involved in Melbourne's Japanese community and beyond. By day he works as a full time marketer.

@harryhrusky