Thread: Hakema color.
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Old 02-03-2008, 12:14 PM   #12
G DiPierro
Location: Ohio
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Re: Hakema color.

Quote:
Ellis Amdur wrote: View Post
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.
Even pre-war, I think the trend was towards dark colors. There is an interview in Aikido Masters that suggests that people with white hakama would often just dye them black because they got so dirty. Of course, back then I imagine the natural tatami was quite dusty, and they wouldn't have had access to modern washing machines.

I'm not of fan of the white-top-with-a-dark-hakama look that is common in aikido. I like the hakama to match the top -- for me that means either all-white or all-blue -- as is typical in most other traditional Japanese arts. As was pointed out earlier, all-white is not as common in kendo due to indigo bogu, but it's often seen in arts like iaido and jodo.

For both practical and aesthetic reasons, my preference is unbleached white, as it's inexpensive, the knees do not get shiny nor does the color not fade like on indigo fabrics, it's very easy to machine-wash, and it doesn't show dirt as much as bleached white. The same things are more or less true for conventionally-dyed blue and black hakama (although they have been bleached first so the fabric is weakened), but I don't think they look as nearly as nice as indigo blue. In any case, in most styles of aikido one could not wear a blue or black top with a matching hakama any more than a white hakama with a white top.

Quote:
Kevin Morrison wrote: View Post
I think Kashima-Shin Ryu have a set colour hakama and keikogi combination for the different grades. The highest rank is all white.
I'm pretty sure this was a modern adaptation by the ryuha to keep pace with other martial arts that use belts/uniform colors/patches/etc to indicate rank (although their system seems to be one of their own styling). I don't think you would ever see something like this in any art prior to Kano's use of black and white belts in judo.

Last edited by G DiPierro : 02-03-2008 at 12:19 PM.
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