Black Uniforms

LOL I wonder if he has "Got Milk" embroidered on the back of his gi jacket.

hehe. those ones are bootiful
if i were a chav id insist on getting burbury, but as im a girly and its nearly summer, perhaps i should get some flowery ones made.

Another nice hak:Stars and stripes

I think they are hilarius, but at the same time I feel a little mean to the thread starter to post it in this thread. I trained in a black dogi for a little more than a year, and I think Bujinkan is a very interesting art. In aikido, though, a black dogi is quite a bit away from the main road, which is why people tend to frown at it.

By the way, some of the old Swedish aikido folks say like this: From 5th day, you can wear a black dogi jacket if you like. From 6th dan, a white hakama instead of black or dark blue is optional meaning you'd be dressin all white, like osensei on many of the later films. My guess is this idea of black jacket and white hakama at certain dan ranks derives from our Japanese resident aikido teacher, long time ago. If this was his invention or not, I can not tell. Maybe he just said it when he did not want to have to change hos dogi top inbetween the iaido and kendo class. I know of one 6th dan who owns and wears a white hakama. He does not wear it outside his own dojo though, not to stir attention.

I thought my black kung-fu uniform was nifty--until the day we had to do dragon-dances outside under direct sunlight. Yikes! At least with black hakama you don't get the sun beating down on your shoulders.

Dying things black is really difficult--you are likely to end up with dark gray, which will hide dirt even better than black, but won't look very appealing. You may also leave black smudges on your mat, if it is canvas.

Mary Kaye

Yeah, Mary is right. Plus, you may want to keep a white dogi, in case you go training abroad or you change to another dojo.

Hello,
This is the first time I have posted on this forum and I would like to set the record straight about the wearing of the black gi.
Firstly, when I was associated with the school of Francis Ramasamy (Malaysia) the Mushinkan Aikido dojo (since 1995) we were asked by the Sensei at the time to wear black as a mark of respect for the Harmonious Arts Association of Japan, then headed by "Sifu" Hayakawa Sooho of Kanazawa, Japan. Yes I did say Sifu, as this is how his students referred to him. He called his art, Wado Shinpo.
Hayakawa Sifu trained with O-Sensei during his latter years.
Because of my close link Ueda Tadatoshi Sensei in Japan I have continued to wear black, which is a personal choice and not some ego trip to "be a ninja". I sincerely believe in the ideals that I have been passed by high ranking aikidoka over the last 28 years and the wearing of the black gi is not a fad.
On the subject of having a white gi ready to wear when visiting other dojo so as not to cause offence. My students and I have proudly worn our uniform (black) in dojos all over the world and as I expected, people respect your choice of uniform.
Just thought I would clear that little misconception up.
Regards,
Nick Pitman

Black pyjamas or white pyjamas - who cares!! I remember from the Samurai TV series, the Koga ninja worn white pyjamas.

On a serious note, most koryu budo arts use black uniforms. We do have stock of black uniforms in Malaysia. The silat boys use them, cheap and good quality. You can order them from Sogo Budo Martial Art Supplies/Shop - do a google for the suppliers, they are based in Johore Bharu, Malaysia.

David Y

I love BLACK uniforms. Use to train in one back in my wun hop kuen do days. Unfortunately, aikido is somewhat racist in this regard.

I've seen in old pics and movies of european aikido pioneers (Abe, Abbe, Nakazono, Mochizuki...) the four combinations of white and black keikogi and white and black hakama.

I just happened to have some down time and thought I'd stop by and see what was happening.

I would suggest buying from Sirius Athletics, they have very nice gi's in white, blue, and black.

I would get either the ultra light gold weave or the gold weave traditional in black, it has the least amount of markings on it, and is a very good fit.

http://www.siriusathletic.com/kimonos.html

http://www.siriusathletic.com/traditional_blackUL.jpg for a picture of what it looks like.