Quote:
Peter A Goldsbury wrote:
Hello Fred,
...However, I suspect that E J Hobsbawm's 'Invention of Tradition' has some relevance here. ....
Do you know Takano Sensei? Very nice man. I think he's 6th or 7th dan. Has been a Hombu student for years. His dojo is in Azabu and he does "combinations". One back panel is dark grey, the other is white. Similarly with the front. I once asked him why and he mentioned purity and the reverse, yin and yang, the balance of the universe: a combination was clearly more 'cool' than one or other extreme--and then you can bring in all the stuff about harmony, for which aikido is so famous.
Hikitsuchi, Bansen Tanaka, Iwata all wore white hakama, as did O Sensei himself on occasion. Kisshomaru favored a grey colour and this seems to have been exclusive to him. The present Doshu regards it much more as a uniform, with little scope for variations.
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Many thanks for the reply, Peter;
Hobsbawm's 'Invention of Tradition' is a wonderful book, to be sure. The person who introduced me to it is now the chair of my dissertation committee. Apparently, I'm her first advisee, so there's a bit of "the whole nine yards" for both of us.
This is the first I've heard of Takano Sensei, but I think I like his fashion sense.
Veblen would almost certainly approve of the current Doshu's attitude.
For my part, I was brought up in a realm in the South where there is a certain expectation that whites and pastels are first worn on Easter Sunday, and appropriate from then until Labor Day. The once inviolable Labor Day rule seems to be observed more in the breach in recent years, and I'm not convinced that's a bad thing, especially in the midst of a warm Indian Summer.
Of course, when I was growing up in the South, it's also true that I had come from elsewhere, and learned very quickly that the first rule is not to upset the locals too terribly much.
Best regards,
FL