Why are there 7 pleats on the Hakama?

I have heard it's because of the seven pillars. But what are these seven pillars and where do they originate from. Currently, I train in a part time school in my college and we generally have many new people each year. This is nice but it also doesn't allow us much in the way of indepth training... This is my way of apologizing for being ignorant... Thanks for the help.

Gatekeeper

Benevolence
Justice
Manners
Wisdom
Faithfulness

The other two, I don't know. I'm not even sure about these 5. Just something I remember reading on a kendo site.

Gatekeeper wrote: I have heard it's because of the seven pillars. But what are these seven pillars and where do they originate from. Currently, I train in a part time school in my college and we generally have many new people each year. This is nice but it also doesn't allow us much in the way of indepth training... This is my way of apologizing for being ignorant... Thanks for the help. Gatekeeper

Er, ah, I thought it was so it would lay flat.

Seriously, different people attach different meanings. I'm pretty sure that the pleats came first and later someone attached some meaning to them.

Pick seven virtues that mean something to you and think about them when you put on or put away your culottes, er, ah, hakama.

BTW, before you notice, the pleats on the Bujin hakama are reversed because Ikeda Sensei wanted it that way....

Hi Guys,

Maybe this could be of interest? :

http://members.aol.com/naginata/pleats.html

Regards....

Greg Jennings wrote: BTW, before you notice, the pleats on the Bujin hakama are reversed because Ikeda Sensei wanted it that way.... [/b]

But isn't that because they're simply to sew that way?
andrew

Thank you so much Cas that was exactly what I was looking for!

Gatekeeper,

No problem-glad to be of some help....

There are seven pleats (five in the front and two in the back) and that these represent the seven virtues of budo:

Jin: benevolence
Gi: honor or justice
Rei: courtesy and etiquette
Chi: wisdom, intellligence
Shin: sincerity
Chu: loyalty
Koh: piety

The five pleats in the front are the five virtues; gotoku, of Japanese traditional society, with the one in the back representing all five virtues are actually one major one, that of being a complete human being.

The five are:

Chuu: loyalty
Ko: justice
Jin: humanity; compassion
Gi: from giri; or honor
Rei: respect

From: http://members.aol.com/naginata/pleats.html

Hmm...
And here I thought the seven pleats were Sleepy,Dopey, Grumpy,Happy,Bashful,Sneezy,Doc

Gene

Gene Martinelli wrote: Hmm... And here I thought the seven pleats were Sleepy,Dopey, Grumpy,Happy,Bashful,Sneezy,Doc Gene

No, those were the Seven Samurai.

David

David Skaggs wrote: No, those were the Seven Samurai. David

Saotome Sensei has a chapter on hakama in his book, "The Principles of Aikido," gives some good info.

Walter Abington wrote: There are seven pleats (five in the front and two in the back) and that these represent the seven virtues of budo: Jin: benevolence Gi: honor or justice Rei: courtesy and etiquette Chi: wisdom, intellligence Shin: sincerity Chu: loyalty Koh: piety The five pleats in the front are the five virtues; gotoku, of Japanese traditional society, with the one in the back representing all five virtues are actually one major one, that of being a complete human being. The five are: Chuu: loyalty Ko: justice Jin: humanity; compassion Gi: from giri; or honor Rei: respect From: http://members.aol.com/naginata/pleats.html

Does this mean that we fart on Koh (piety) and Shin (sincerity) then ?
phil

Gene Martinelli wrote:

I thought the Seven Samurai was Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson... oh, wait. . . they were the warrior bugs in A Bug's Life. . . aw, same source material.

Kurosawa Lives!