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Re: Hakema color.
When I was training in Japan, there was a young aikido teacher, 5th dan, with his own dojo - who had an artistic temperment. He had a beautiful lawn-green hakama, which he wore in his own dojo. One day he wore it to the Aikikai Honbu, to Osawa sensei's class. Upon his entering the dojo, Osawa sensei walked over and in a loud voice, said the Japanese equivalent of "Whassa matta' wit you. You crazy? Go home and don't come back unless you know how to get dressed!."
Pre-war, people in aikido wore white, blue or black hakama. Post-war, due to a fabric shortage (per Osawa sensei to me), they mandated no hakama 'til shodan for men, to help people save money. Women, of course, always needed to wear hakama, so their legs wouldn't show. (Osawa sensei made a personal appeal to me to speak with all the foreign women aikido practitioners to stop sitting cross-legged in the dojo, because it would leave the impression that they were loose women.). Post-war, only Osensei wore white.
Korindo has a grey & white horizontal striped hakama until 3rd dan, and rust color from 4th. Yoshinkai, I believe, starts wearing hakama after 4th dan. (All of this was true, at least, when I lived in Japan in the 1980's). There was a famous incident when Jan Hermansson, known affectionately and fearfully as the "Swedish Meatball" visited the Yoshinkai and proudly wore his hakama, even though he was a mere third dan. There was an attempt to make him pay for this, but it backfired - (think of the cartoons after Popeye eats his spinach and enters the barfight). Jan was also a professional wrestler, and when I'd work out with him, he'd throw me and do a flying pancake, 280+ pounds landing on my chest, and when I'd struggle to get him off, he'd encourage me, saying, "Chust bench press me 'oop! Chust bench press me 'oop.!"
Ahh, I digress. Thread drift.
Anyway, remember girls, never sit cross-legged (from Osawa sensei thru me to you - thirty years too late).
Best
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