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Just thought I'd make a post about this blade and my experience with it. Yasaka Masamune. 3 ply hinoki blade, all wood, weighing around 86 grams.
Like many people who have seen Satoshi Aida play I immediately became enamoured with his unique style. A quick check on his Instagram page led me to buy the Masamune racket and the Rakza 7 rubbers he was using on both sides at the time so I could transition away from using long pimples on BH on my old Harimoto ALC. What started as an experiment turned into a whole new venture for me and this has been my main (pretty much only) racket for the last year. My first impressions were as a normal offensive racket I thought this was great but how Aida chops heavy loops with Rakza 7 on BH is insane and I found it extremely difficult especially against the slow spinnier ones... Aida really has an amazing feeling for the Rakza 7 which I cannot come close to. I had to switch to less catapulty rubbers and eventually settled on Yinhe Apollo 5 (36 degrees)on BH. This improved my chopping almost immediately. My go to shot under pressure on BH side is always a chop and a slower Chinese rubber like Apollo 5 which has a lot less sensitively to the incoming spin really helped.
This is marketed on the Yasaka website as an all-around blade but this thing has serious gears and is as fast if not faster than my old Harimoto racket. You can win points outright on speed alone depending on how hard you hit. The feeling is 10/10. It literally becomes an extension of your arm. I've used a few different rubbers on FH. Rakza 7 and Zyre 03 have both worked very well but I recently put a Gewo Nexxus El Pro 43 degree on FH and it really helped my consistency and defensive strokes especially against much stronger opponents where I can outplay them with placement and control and changing the pace with heavy chops.
My only fault with this blade is when it's humid and hot inside the hall the handle (mines flared) can get a bit slippery, it can feel a little loose in your hand when you are adjusting your grip in the serve, but this may be an issue with me and my sweaty hands after hours of playing. I am coming from a harimoto ALC blade however and that has the best handle I've ever felt though and nothing comes close in my opinion 😂
Has anyone else used this blade and what rubbers have you tried on it? Would love to hear your thoughts?
Picture attached is my spare Masamune I was lucky enough to get signed by Aida himself when I got to meet him at WTT Ljublana (Super nice guy by the way). It really was so good I had to buy two... The plan was to experiment with a few different rubber set ups but I never got the chance because once he signed it I keep it in the sitting room at home 😂
Like many people who have seen Satoshi Aida play I immediately became enamoured with his unique style. A quick check on his Instagram page led me to buy the Masamune racket and the Rakza 7 rubbers he was using on both sides at the time so I could transition away from using long pimples on BH on my old Harimoto ALC. What started as an experiment turned into a whole new venture for me and this has been my main (pretty much only) racket for the last year. My first impressions were as a normal offensive racket I thought this was great but how Aida chops heavy loops with Rakza 7 on BH is insane and I found it extremely difficult especially against the slow spinnier ones... Aida really has an amazing feeling for the Rakza 7 which I cannot come close to. I had to switch to less catapulty rubbers and eventually settled on Yinhe Apollo 5 (36 degrees)on BH. This improved my chopping almost immediately. My go to shot under pressure on BH side is always a chop and a slower Chinese rubber like Apollo 5 which has a lot less sensitively to the incoming spin really helped.
This is marketed on the Yasaka website as an all-around blade but this thing has serious gears and is as fast if not faster than my old Harimoto racket. You can win points outright on speed alone depending on how hard you hit. The feeling is 10/10. It literally becomes an extension of your arm. I've used a few different rubbers on FH. Rakza 7 and Zyre 03 have both worked very well but I recently put a Gewo Nexxus El Pro 43 degree on FH and it really helped my consistency and defensive strokes especially against much stronger opponents where I can outplay them with placement and control and changing the pace with heavy chops.
My only fault with this blade is when it's humid and hot inside the hall the handle (mines flared) can get a bit slippery, it can feel a little loose in your hand when you are adjusting your grip in the serve, but this may be an issue with me and my sweaty hands after hours of playing. I am coming from a harimoto ALC blade however and that has the best handle I've ever felt though and nothing comes close in my opinion 😂
Has anyone else used this blade and what rubbers have you tried on it? Would love to hear your thoughts?
Picture attached is my spare Masamune I was lucky enough to get signed by Aida himself when I got to meet him at WTT Ljublana (Super nice guy by the way). It really was so good I had to buy two... The plan was to experiment with a few different rubber set ups but I never got the chance because once he signed it I keep it in the sitting room at home 😂
