Looking for Hakama

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[Shany]

who sells a original japanese hakama? :D in a fair price!!

[Michael Hackett]

Tozando does. Top quality, great service. reasonable prices. Not cheap, but reasonable.

[Jennifer Yabut]

I bought my hakama (for Iaido) from Kiyota Company, which is based in Baltimore MD. Kiyota imports all of their goods from Japan. It's over twelve years old, but is still in great condition.

I've also heard good things about Bu Jin Design (http://www.bujindesign.com/hakama-c-29.html?osCsid=a865e5a059bb4a4a5a994900f0ae082d), but I don't have any direct experience with them.

[ChristianBoddum]

Tozandos' pure polyester hakama is a great bargain,
it looks amazing but is a little tricky to tie at first,
since pure polyester is kind of slippery compared to
fabrics that are blended with cotton.
It seems somewhat stronger than the standard model.
Himo length is just right !!

Iwata poly (65/35 blend) is a beautiful and longlasting hakama,
but check Himo length as it is shorter as standard and must be special ordered to have longer Himo.
Iwata are more expensive, but once worn you don't regret !!

[Janet Rosen]

Mugendo Budogu http://www.budogu.com/ also has great hak from Japan in all prices and fabrics

[Jennifer Yabut]

Mugendo Budogu http://www.budogu.com/ also has great hak from Japan in all prices and fabrics

Slightly off-topic: How's the quality of Budogu's wooden weapons? I normally buy my wooden weapons from Bokkenshop (http://www.bokkenshop.com/eng/index.html), but since they are based in Japan, shipping costs can be a nightmare...especially since the U.S. dollar is doing so poorly right now...

[Janet Rosen]

Hmmm... don't know; my hakama and iaito from them rock though, and I'd be surprised if Peter sold anything less than very good.
My custom hickory jo and bokken came from Sei DO Kei http://sdksupplies.netfirms.com/ Kim Taylor up in Canada

[Nick P.]

Also custom wood weapons:
http://www.kingfisherwoodworks.com/

I got a entry-level jo from them, customized with inscription. Very nice. Highly recommend. I too have a bokken (with saya) from Kim Taylor, also very nice.

[dragonteeth]

I also have jo and bokken from Kim Taylor who runs Sei Do Kai. We did a bulk order from him last winter, with several custom weapons plus some stock stuff. He gave us a very nice discount because we ordered more than 10 items. I went a different route with wood species choice - osage orange. It is a serious pain in the butt to work with, but he did a beautiful job. The hickory custom stuff as well as the shiro kashi stock items were all top quality, and the prices were reasonable even without the discount. He works with a huge number of wood species, and has a large selection of bokken designs for customization. He can also do laminates of different wood species if you're looking for a showpiece for demonstrations.

[ramenboy]

who sells a original japanese hakama? :D in a fair price!!

depends on what you call fair price. up until january i was using my trusty yamato sakura from kiyota and its been holding up really well. even in iaido. then i invested in a heavy cotton iwata and i love it.

[Shany]

yeah well, how can i order from kiyota than? im not living in USA.
it's come a time for me now to order my Hakama since I got a new rank! yay!

i see that hakamas can be made from 100% polyester / 100% cutton,

which you would prefer ? (durability & reliebility)

[ramenboy]

yeah well, how can i order from kiyota than? im not living in USA.
it's come a time for me now to order my Hakama since I got a new rank! yay!

i see that hakamas can be made from 100% polyester / 100% cutton,

which you would prefer ? (durability & reliebility)

aaah... now that's the challenge! well what i would suggest is find out where your sempai purchased theirs, and do the same.

if this your first time wearing a hakama, probably the cotton/poly blends would be better. they hold their pleats and are very lightweight.

good luck and congrats on your new rank

[dragonteeth]

Well one of the first questions you might want to answer is how good are you at folding a hakama? Cotton hakama tend to lose their pleats more easily than polyester, so I would get one only if you really know how to take care of it (or have someone willing to coach you). Polyester is much more forgiving (especially if the pleats are sewn in a la Bujin), especially in the heavier weight. Of course, if you ball it up enough they will still go away. (I still shudder at the memory of folding a 20 year old rayon hakama that had not been taken care of for an instructor at a recent seminar. He told me afterward that no one had even tried in the past 10 years - after I had wrestled with it for 20 minutes!)

The second question is what color are the mats you routinely practice upon? Indigo dyed cotton can leave blue marks on the mats, which could be rather embarrassing if you practice on white canvas. Black cotton and polyester don't bleed as badly, if at all.

As for ordering, both Yamato and Iwata have direct order sites online.
Yamato - http://www.yamatobudogu.com/Custom_Tailored_Hakama_s/154.htm
Iwata - http://www.alpha-net.ne.jp/users2/iwataco/frame2e.html

The Yamato site seems a lot more user friendly, has a more normal payment method, and offers more customization. Iwata is a little tougher to understand because the translation leaves a lot to be desired at times. They also require you to either email or fax them your credit card number (eek) or do a bank transfer. I would try calling Kiyota to see if they will ship to Israel if you really want an Iwata unless you are fluent in Japanese, but that's just me.

Let us know what you pick!

[akiy]

The last time I was at the Iwata shop a few months ago, one of the little old Iwata ladies told me a story about shipping an item to Israel, so I'd imagine that they'd still be doing so. You may want to send them an e-mail at iwataco@m13.alpha-net.ne.jp (listed on their site) to reconfirm, though.

-- Jun

[Shany]

well, the main problem that I see with Iwata is the Payment method.

giving visa/master card number & expiration date over email is really risky, and I truly doubt they ever heard about PGP or that kind of encryption methods.
And I guess having the card number/e-date lurking over the net is the last thing I'll want.

Having paypal really does clear some smoke and makes you do the transaction smoothly and securely.

however, although it seems Iwata has a find quality,
I looked over at yamatobudogu.com, and it is quite good, and they also have Paypal option.

does anyone had a chance to buy from yamatobudogu.com?

their prices is +- the same as seen in Iwata.

Jun Akiyama,
If you are living in the area and able to visit the shop, I guess we can corporate together, if you have paypal account, we can do the deal, you being 3rd party (buying from iwata / selling to me).

but that's just an option i guess, if someone is willing to try it.
That's also how I bought my Katana though.

[akiy]

If you are living in the area
I do not live in Japan.

If you have security concerns about e-mailing your information to them, there is always the option of sending a fax. Their number is on their website.

-- Jun