Hi everyone,
I just had a wonderful weekend watching the 33rd International Tsugaru Contest! Team Bachido’s performance was amazing and inspiring.
Now, I want to get back at my playing and improve it after only 3 weeks of learning, since I studied classical guitar for many years before, I’m getting at it slowly but I’m satisfied of the speed of my learning but I have one unanswered question.
I tried to check on the forum for an answer but couldn’t find it. My bachi is a wood one with a weight but I can’t figure out on what side I should hold it. I’ve tried both but I’m never convinced. Should the weight be down or up?
Thank you for your help!
Here are pictures of my bachi:
I tried to follow the instructions to post the pictures with IMGUR but it doesn’t seem to work…
I’m not quite sure what you mean by “the weight”. I always thought it was in the middle. But, refer to Kyle’s lesson on how to hold the bachi in the Crash Course - he tells you exactly how to hold it. It doesn’t matter which side is up or down, as long as you make sure the blade of the bachi is semi-parallel with the dou - not sticking out at a right angle from it. Play the video that says “holding the bachi”.
http://bachido.com/lessons/crash-course-1/chapter-4
Good luck! 
Before this gets buried, I wanted to say that Lorraine is exactly right, the weight is balanced in the middle of the bachi, so you can play with either side. There is a slot on one side for putting the weight in to a wooden bachi, so that’s why you were confused, I’m sure.
I guess it was a wrong impression I had… I’ll keep on practicing and see if it changes.
I polished one side of my bachi and it helped me for the upstrokes but I’ll polish the other side too and see what happens.