rolled-up sleeves

I just cut my sleeves off mid forearm so I don't have to roll them up . Keeps them from getting grimy.

Mike Logan wrote: it is common to roll up the sleeve on the side of the body where an individual is dealing with injury, recovering, or taking it easy, etc, etc.

That's how it is at the dojo here too. I broke my hand a couple of months ago and followed the convention once I got back on the mat, but of course plenty of visitors were not familiar with it. I found that wearing a bandage or tape just for show was also helpful.

Regarding ill-fitting dogi, I once bought a terrible "dedicated Aikidogi". It has ridiculously short sleeves (sodeguchi grabs take place at the elbow) and only gets worn if it rains four days in a row.

Regards

Carl

In Judo, it is actually against the rules to roll up your sleeves because your oppenent would have nothing to hold on to and it gives you an advantage.

In other arts, I don't think it matters much. My gi is a hybrid kendo style, so my sleeves only come down to my elbow, anyway.

Mike Haftel wrote: In Judo, it is actually against the rules to roll up your sleeves because your oppenent would have nothing to hold on to and it gives you an advantage. In other arts, I don't think it matters much. My gi is a hybrid kendo style, so my sleeves only come down to my elbow, anyway.

I'd actually prefer my opponent roll his sleeves up and sew them so they stay there. Mmmm giant collar like grips near the elbows.....

Don Magee wrote: I'd actually prefer my opponent roll his sleeves up and sew them so they stay there. Mmmm giant collar like grips near the elbows.....

Oddly enough I feel the same way about one guy at our dojo with very long hair. He keeps it in a pony tail. Man, what a great handle... I can't count how many times I've had to stop myself from using it...

Don Magee wrote: I'd actually prefer my opponent roll his sleeves up and sew them so they stay there. Mmmm giant collar like grips near the elbows.....

You'd like the Sambo jacket (kurtka) then!

Keith Larman wrote: Oddly enough I feel the same way about one guy at our dojo with very long hair. He keeps it in a pony tail. Man, what a great handle... I can't count how many times I've had to stop myself from using it...

Funny! I have long hair but try to avoid the ponytail thing.
I try to go for a more "Samurai-esque" Top-knot... or if you prefer a "Librarian-esque" bun.

Hair pulling is for little girls!!!

Christian Moses wrote: You'd like the Sambo jacket (kurtka) then!

Actually, that uniform is the one reason I want to train sambo.

For the past 5 years that I have been practicing in Japan, we have never been allowed to roll up our sleeves, especially during kokyudosa or any katatetori waza, because is is so humid. It is next to impossible to get a good, firm grip on a naked wrist dripping with sweat. I have seen (abroad) kokyudosa done with either shorter sleeves or rolled up sleeves and people getting hit in the mouth because their hands slide due to the sweat.

As far as what is "correct" or "standard"...no idea!

Whenever we practice jo with my small group at the gym at work I roll up my sleeves. Often after having the jo get stuck in the sleeve in the middle of an awase practice as happened last night again for the umpteenth time.
We had formal classes at work for over 20 years then in a bureaucratic power play another organization took over the running of the gym at the military base and outlawed all civilian groups. We continued practicing as just "guys working out" and initially we showed up in shorts or sweat pants and tee shirts. It quickly became apparent that this would not work out. Too many torn shirts and not enough absorbance in the Washington, DC summers with no air conditioning. So now we're just "guys working out in judo gis". (And I try to remember to bring the hakama when I train at Capitol Aikikai on the weekends and keep the sleeves down.)

Saito Sensei often made the point in the Iwama Dojo that it was bad form to have rolled up sleeves.
Isoyama Sensei took time at a seminar here in Copenhagen last year to go through many interesting points of dojo etiquette - emphasizing also that the dojo etiquette for aikido sometimes differs from other martial arts. He made the same point about rolled up sleeves. His general point was that one should dress oneself carefully. The term "fukuso" refers to proper attire in Japanese. He used this term when talking about proper attire in the dojo. He pointed out that if you bought a new suit and the sleeves were too long, you would have the suit altered. The same should be the case with the keiko-gi, and the hakama as well. Hakama straps that hang down too far are also not good form, according to Isoyama Sensei.

In Aiki,

Ethan Weisgard

Keith Larman wrote: Oddly enough I feel the same way about one guy at our dojo with very long hair. He keeps it in a pony tail. Man, what a great handle... I can't count how many times I've had to stop myself from using it...

I wore double ponytails for the first time to practice last night, normally I just wear one long one. The guys had great fun coming up behind me and pulling on them right as I was about to demonstrate a new technique to new member. I guess that was their way of demonstrating to the new member not to wear her hair in ponytails....

I have short legs, I have short arms, I roll my sleeves once at the wrists just so that I can SEE my wrists! I am not crafty with a needle so rolling worked better for me.

having trained in hot and humid climate as Jakarta, Manila, South Korea (in summer) and once in Japan in summer, too. i usually wore my sleeves short, either rolled up initially or altered.
i am not aware, either of any etiquette regarding this. this response, as far as i am concerned is about comfort and practicality.
no one has yet pointed this out to me, so i have continued doing it and will probably, continue doing it. if someone is really bent on imposing it, i guess that makes it uncomfortable in every way, and i'll just have to leave the mat.
in a sense, to each his own.

In our dojo most people wear an Aikido gi from "Nine Circles" because they have shorter sleeves and are supposedly designed for Aikido.

If someone does have problems with long sleeves and wants to roll them up we get them to roll the sleeves up on the inside of their gi. This way they can have short sleeves and nobody gets their fingures caught.

Trish Greene wrote: I roll my sleeves once at the wrists just so that I can SEE my wrists! I am not crafty with a needle so rolling worked better for me.

Same for me. If I didn't roll them up one I wouldn't have any hands.

However, I don't want to get the sleeves hemmed until it does all the shrinking in the wash it may want to do.