in our organisation,hakama is awarded at shodan but permission can be given to wear it at 2nd kyu if student is diligent and is sincere and shows a fair technical ability.however if somebody turned up,did not check out with sensei that it was ok to wear hakama at a fairly low grade and was mistaken for a senior student and then got damaged because they could not take ukemi.well lets say that it is arrogant to assume that just because you are entitled to wear it in your organisation it means that you have reached the technical and maturity level to wear it in another who have different opinions re hakama.
scott
www.thistleaikikai.com