Good Hakama Gone Bad

My first teacher used to take his hakama, roll it up, wrap the ties around it and call it a folded hakama. Occasionally, I would try and fold it for him and it was literally impossible to find the pleats. It was truly a good hakama gone bad. My current teacher is much the same, although, he does make at least make the attempt.

And so some questions.

Who owned the worst hakama you've ever seen and how bad was it?

Who had the most unique hakama? I used to practice in a place that had colored hakama (green, red, etc.) We didn't take them outside the dojo which was probably a good thing.

Lastly, what's the most unique hakama practice you've seen. For example, a jiu jitsu school I once visited wore their belts outside of the hakama.

[Edited by Erik on March 31, 2001 at 11:29am]

Hello,

Hmmm, worst Hakama I've seen. Well, I occasionally visit this other dojo (doesn't matter where or which one really) and there was a student there who I believe was 2nd Kyu. This individual's hakama was about one foot too short (it was just below the knees, which looked very odd) and I'm not kidding here, it had plaid patches sewn over the area where the knees would be. Now my vision is a little color deficient, but I'm pretty sure that the patches were black, green, and yellow plaid. The koshita on this hakama was badly worn, the stitching was unravelling and you could see the plastic insert. On a more positive note, this individual had pretty good technique and was a very nice person. I guess you can't judge an Aikidoka by there hakama

Have a good day!

I don't know if I can beat the plaid story, but my first hakama was one I found in the closet in the back of the clubroom. It was old, cotton. The seams all looked thoroughly worn. The kicker was that the knees were patched...with duct tape.

Needless to say, I have since purchased a bujin hakama of my own and handed down the duct taped (and now patched) hakama to another student.

Yours in ukemi,

Thomas

My dream is that one day I shall wear a Hawian print hakama (which, after all is very relevant for aikido).

P.S. I have a shaped floor tile instead of a plastic koshita since the plastic bit broke very early on.

A friend of mine attended a course somwhere in england where the sensei leading the course walked on the mat with a stars and stripes hakama.

At the seminar here last weekend there was a woman with a green hakama, and another woman with a purple hakama who said that her sensei had a gorgeous Hawaiian print hakama.

I attended a seminar in the States last year where one guy wore his hakama,a bright red one at that,back to front for two days.He even wore a red belt over it with black marker pen writing,"Founder of Combo Karate." He gave us visiting Brits a bit of a laugh.

I once saw a 2nd kyu wearing what I would describe as a former hakama. It was so creased it looked like a building site! After the session I found out why - I saw the sensei help the student to fold it, he couldn't do it himself.

Its so sad to see people who take longer to get ready before and after keiko than they spend on the mat. Some people are more interested in looking good on the mat rather than training hard. it should take no longer than 5 min to get on a gi hak and obi any longer is pathetic and belongs in some camp clothes boutque. yes its important to keep the folds but learn to do it quickly or if no time WHO CARES . The standard of your hak has nowt to do with your abilty

So much for tradition. Green, red, red white and blue. I saw a student get kicked off the mat for wearing a gray and black striped hakama. The sensei told him he could practice if he took off the hakama but the only acceptable ones were solid black or blue. I guess I'm somewhat of a traditionalist and expect a hakama to be one color blue or black and reasonably clean and pressed. I realize it does not affect one's technique. Learning to fold a hakama to maintain it's pleats is not that big a deal and should only take couple of minutes. I used to hate doing it until I learned how to properly (I'd just hang mine). My instructor made me learn to fold it. Now it's no big deal.

I agree fervently that hakama should be kept clean and pressed. I've found that spending a few extra minutes creasing the pleats helps them stay together in the long run. It took me at least a few months to figure it out on a used one before I bought my own, but the learning becomes part of the ritual of training. Some compare it to a Zen exercise.

That said, since when is wearing a navy or black hakama part of "tradition?"

Just wondering...

Thomas

steff -

"Who cares?"? The standard to which one holds oneself with regard to respecting one's training gear is indicative of one's standard of training on the mats, IMO. So what if they take longer preparing and leaving the floor than they do actually training? If they train for two hours and spend two more preparing before they take the mat, who are you to tell them to hurry?

I can see the value in doing something quickly, especially for days when you *have* to do it quickly for whatever reason (late for class or the seminar for example). But what about breathing or meditation exercises? Should those be rushed, too? Maybe dressing is more than simply dressing for these people; perhaps it is as much a ritual for preparing their mind as their training on the mats prepares their body.

There *are* ways to make this sort of mindful-attentiveness apply to and help with one's physical aikido practice, if one is willing to slow down and appreciate the metaphor.

See the "I have a funny question" thread if you want more discussion of this. A couple of us have tried to defend this sort of thinking there for some time.

I would have LOVED to have seen the back to front example! (you made me snort soda on my keyboard!)lol
Lan

Hawaiian print hakama. Wow. I think I have a new goal to shoot for -- one of my "reasons aikido is cool" before I actually started looking seriously into it, was that you got to wear a hakama.

Maybe I can get a nice deep green one; no stripes or anything, just green instead of blue. The color has symbolic importance to me, just as I suspect the traditional blue and black ones do. Ya think?

Heather

Hakama can actually be any color. I had a few friends that wore purple ones for the coming of age day (seijin shiki) ceremony.

My hakama is navy blue and in one of my dojos there are only black ones (in the other one black ones and blue ones). People really don't have any imagination ! This said, if the question is: what's the worst hakama you've ever seen? I would reply: probably mine own. Nobody at the time was able to explain me how to fold it right (because only one or two guys really knew and they weren't there), so I did the best I could... which is not much. So it never looks neat and all. This said, it allows me to spend less time folding my hakama while other people remove the tatami .

well, i encountered a 16 pleat hakama during one of my visits in our capital city and the second my sensei brought me to one of his friends dojo where i saw a lady wearing a white hakama. i dunno but i really think she was lovely with her white hakama. we were battling who would be doing uke for her.

oh, by the way, my hakama is black and my dogi is white. just simple thats all

My hakama has to be the worse I've ever seen..... It sits in my closet and collects dust!... I hate wearing the freaken thing

Robert Jackson wrote: My hakama has to be the worse I've ever seen..... It sits in my closet and collects dust!... I hate wearing the freaken thing

Same same. But mines tetron - dusty but no wrinkles.

People in our dojo (indeed, ppl in our organization) wear black or blue hakama. That said, there's a guy in our dojo with a purple hakama. He ordered it by mail order, and it came the wrong colour, and he never bothered to change it. I don't have a hakama myself yet, being a kyu-grade male. I fold my sensei's though, and do it very carefully, making sure that every pleat is perfect. As far as I can tell, everybody from my own Sensei, to Kanetsuka Sensei (head of BAF), to O Sensei, and various martial artists who were writers of times past such as Miyamoto Musashi and Yamamoto Tsunetomo, say that one should always pay great attention to the small details of such matters.

Yes but the rub is in which details.

[What about something like this?

Well, if my wife ever figure out how to operate a sewing machine, I can see a purple and gold tigerstripe hakama with the LSU Tiger logo in my future.

I'm sure Janet Rosen could make you one, for the right price.

Jeanne

When my wife and I married, we had two white denim hakamas custom made for the ceremony -- with the idea that later we could dye them black and wear them at the dojo.
The instructions on the dye were to dry it afterwards, and I absolutely had forgotten that the heavy denim was not pre-shrunk. And the dye didn't take very well either.
So now I have a grey hakama that comes a little past my knees!
I also have a very short pair of gi pants that are very worn... . Occasionally, I pull them both out and look like a little hobo samurai