actually my first experiences with owning a hakama are quite funny. after testing i received the right to wear one in my dojo. well my iwata hakama hadnt come in yet and i borrowed a friends old one. well my friend as a few inches taller than i am. so the next day before practice was to begin, my friend and i as we usually had a pre-practice an hr before class. well i let him run thru a series of throws and what not. my biggest fear of course was to fall or trip in the hakama which thankfully didnt happen. but something worse for my poor friend. it was my turn to be nage, and it seemed all that came to mind were iriminage throws. well in came the attack and everything went nicely until i had to step in and throw my foot got stuck in the folds of the hakama and i sent uke crashing to ground with me on top of him. well i said i was sorry and received the dirty look for pile driving him into the mat. so again he attacks and again we fall into the mat as my foot lodges in the folds. crash we go. i aplogize and he just gives me another dirty look. well the next attack comes in and to my horror my foot again got caught up in the hakama. my friend got up and said " dude whats a matter with u." and got slowly off the mat. it was funny then and now we laugh about it more so.
but worse then tripping in your hakama is learning how to fold that devilish pile of cloth. i was shown once and that was it. had to learn by watching because no one would help. it took me forever to learn how to fold it. always that last one off the mat.
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