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all right, i can't stand it any longer...no, i do not think the hakama for women at lower ranks rule had anything to do with allowing them to train during a time of the month that they might get blood on their gi, for two reasons: 1) i believe any kind/color of hakama was used during the early days of Aikido, not just dark blue/black...2) while dark blue/black will hide a stain, if it is wet and it hits the mat, a mark will be left---i'm sure then, as now, ladies who thought they might get blood on the mat got off of it, or stayed off of it as needed. it undoubtedly was, as i think it was Andrew who pointed out, an out-dated and insulting (primarily to male Aikidoka) rule that implied men would be distracted by females in 'underwear'...much the same as two things i was taught when i joined the AF (too) many years ago: women could not sit in the front row of an auditorium in uniform, since the uniforms had skirts and so needed at least one "modesty row" (AF terms, not mine) of seat backs between me and the lecturer, and that female uniforms were DESIGNED to be unattractive, so as not to distract the men in uniform from their job.
and in my opinion, they look much better on men than women.
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