Kendo equipment consists
of the swords, uniform and armor.
There are two types of wooden swords used. First, the bokken or bokuto,
a solid wood sword made of oak or another suitable hardwood. The bokken
is used for basics and forms practice (kata). Second, the shinai, is
made up of four bamboo staves and leather. The shinai is used for full
contact sparring practice.
The uniform or dogi consists of woven cotton top called a keikogi and
pleated skirt-like trousers called a hakama.
The armor or bogu consists of four pieces: the helmet (men), the body
protector (do), the gloves (kote), and the hip and groin protector
(tare).
Modern Kendo armor design is fashioned after the Oyoroi of the Samurai.
source: www.kendo-usa.org