Hakama

[aiki craig]

I have heard some very good threads and most of my fellow martial artists sound very wise and knowledgable, so i shall try and mimik.
The hakama is a seven pleated garment worn by senior students. each pleat symbolises one of the seven virtues of budo. All students should aim to refine these virtues.
Jin Benevolence
Gi Honour and Justice
Rei Courtesy and etiquette
Chi Wisdom and Intelligence
Shin Sincerety
Chu Loyalty
Ko Piety

Some clubs of Aikido allow women to wear hakama from 2nd kyu and men from shodan. One club in Auckland has no gradings so all are permitted to wear hakama.
Thanks for reading this. I hope this may be usefull to someone. take care everyone.
Craig

[Lawrence]

Hi there,

Some aikido clubs I have witnessed make all female students wear hakama from the beginning, this doesn't make sence to me.

Does this philosophy about the hakama come from Tohei sensei?

I ask this because I have seen various hakama with from 3 to 9 pleats to them. These do not fit this philosphy.

Also, when aikidoka wear hakama they tend to have them too short. The amount of hakama that are up around the practicioners ancles is now uncountable. The hakama should be mm from the ground, not yards!

Finally, why do aikido instructors wear hakama anyway? I am sure it would make more sence for all students to wear them and the instructor not to so all can see legs and feet clearly. Then the hakama can act as a teaching aid to the pupils so they learn to move correctly (particularly when seating or riseing from a seated position)?

Anyway, thanks for the information.

Take care,

Lawrence.

[aiki craig]

Hi Lawrence, Craig here.Thanks for taking interest in my thread.Your logic about sensei not wearing a hakama makes great sense. My version about the hakama is from Tohei`s Ki Society. Wearing the hakama in Aikido is mostly a traditional gesture and something westerners aim for achieving. Hakama bought in shops seem to have limited sizes, especially if your tall and 15 stone as i am. (NOT FAT EITHER,JUST SOLID). Yes they should sit mm off ground. Definately your Aikido seems to inprove ten fold when you wear one.

Keep well
Craig

[roninja]

aiki-craig, I would like to thank you very much for posting this thread. I have been trying to find out the signifigance of hakama for about the last three weeks, and I just read this, thanks.

Joseph Dunkin

[hizaguchi]

Finally, why do aikido instructors wear hakama anyway? I am sure it would make more sence for all students to wear them and the instructor not to so all can see legs and feet clearly. Then the hakama can act as a teaching aid to the pupils so they learn to move correctly (particularly when seating or riseing from a seated position)?
I've watched aikido classes and wondered the same thing. At least the local instructor does lift up the bottom of his hakama and tuck it into his belt when he is demonstrating techniques with especially tricky footwork, but with my TKD-induced tendency to always keep track of legs I kept getting lost and confused as I watched. I definately agree about the hakama helping you to learn movements though. In Iaido, all students were encouraged to wear one, and once I got over hating my skirt I noticed that focusing on keeping the hakama moving smoothly was easier than focusing on the exact placement of my feet. I still can't sit down properly though. :)

[P Goldsbury]

Well, one explanation is that Morihei Ueshiba wore hakama when he trained, as did Sokaku Takeda before him and this carried on a Japanese tradition started many centuries before either were born.

Ueshiba expected everyone to wear the hakama in his Kobukan Dojo, but this tradition was not continued after World War II. The official explanation given by the Aikikai, the inheritors of the Kobukan Dojo is that the postwar shortage of suitable material like cotton made it impossible to keep the tradition. Thus, the rule was established that men should wear hakama only after becoming yudansha. There is an old tradition in Japan that allows men to apear relatively unclothed in public (as in hadaka shobai trades in the Edo period and in festivals throughout Japanese history). But this tradition never applied to women and so I suspect that the relatively few women who practised aikido immediately after the war were expected to wear hakama immediately after starting practice.

This is the explanation I heard from a 9th dan Japanese shihan at the Aikikai Hombu. As for the length, prewar hakama were several inches shorter than the hakama people usually waer today.

Best regards,

[alcantur]

greetings :bow:

Following on the excellent threads about the Hakama, and it's use in Aikido, i will expose a little about the history and use of it to clearify the evolution of it's use in Aikido.

What is the Hakama and who wears it?
The Hakama is a piece of clothing usually worn by samurai and martial artists from budo techniques (Kyudo, Kenjutsu, Iaido and Kendo) to cover and protect their legs and the more expensive clothings. Most of the Hakamas used in modern martial arts are variants from the Umanori-Hakama, the Hakama used by mounted samurai warriors, that resembles what are currently known as culottes, that have sepparate legs. There is also the Andon-Hakama, the Hakama used by infantry warriors that is more like an ample skirt without the division of the legs.

How long a Hakama must be?
Hakamas used to be worn at the height of the ankle or a little bit shorter, because no respectable samurai would drag his clothes around the floor, but nowadays we see Hakamas that lift only a few mm from the ground, that is usefull to hide the movement of the feet and conceal our intentions to the opponent, but it's not a design historically accurate. Hakamas used in special ceremonies in the japanese emperor's court were even longer, about 50 or 60cm longer (even more) than the legs lenght of the bearer. they were that long in order to avoid the freedom of movements and prevent any kind of attack on the heavenly descendant of the goddess Amateratsu.

How many pleads a Hakama must have?
Umanori-Hakamas used in Aikido have 7, and their significate were explained by others in previous posts, they are related to the values a budo warrior must fulfill. But other Hakamas may have more or less pleads, existing even ceremonial Hakamas with no pleads at all. Why? because they are part of the traditional japanese clothing and were influenced by the fashion of the time or the specifical function they were developed for.

Why do Aikidokas wear Hakamas?
O'Sensei developed Aikido as a budo discipline, so he firmly believed that Aikidokas must wear according to it, and the Hakama were part of that inheritance. It is known that he avoided the practice of some of his uchideshi when not wearing it. Why? because the gi is considered underwear, and O'Sensei thought that practicing Aikido in gi was a disrespect for the dojo and the other students and teachers. So, at the Hombu Dojo, all the students (begginers or not) wore the Hakama.

When started the practice of allow it only to the yudansha?
Just after WWII, cotton fabrics became very rare and expensive in Japan, specially those of the quality required for the practice of martial arts, and not many of the Aikido students could afford the cost of a good Hakama, it was then when restrictions about the practice in Gi started to relax, and the Hakama became obligatory only for the more experienced students and shihans. It wasn't a ban of the use of Hakama for the lower ranks, they could wear if if they could afford it.
Most of the foreign students of Aikido started about that time or later, and most of them started to believe that Hakamas were a privilege or simbol of status of the yudansha. So, when they started to teach, they enforced that habit. :rolleyes:

Why women can start to wear it earlier in their aikido progress?
Because even when Hakamas were expensive, it wasn't well seen to have a woman in underwear around the dojo, no matter how unexperienced se was, so they were enforced (or "allowed") to wear it much earlier than men. :cool:

What about the color, is the White Hakama reserved for the highest Aikido ranks or O'Sensei himself?
No, by the time O'Sensei taught Aikido, Hakamas came in almost every color, and he wore them all (just look at the pics from O'Sensei), but dark colors were preferred in martial arts because even if they caught some stain, sweat or dust (even blood for the most violent disciplines), they still look cleaner than the clear ones, and avoid the embarassment of the stains on the fabric. O'Sensei started to wear a white Hakama later in his life to show how a perfect technique doesn't imply any effort from the practitioner, keeping his Hakama clean.



Rodrigo Rosa
2nd kyu

[KayJay]

Interesting background information, thank you.
Our Sensei and Sempai are the only ones who wear the hakama and they are constantly pulling them up to show up the footwork of new techniques. I have never thought to question why but figured it was since they were the only ones not wearing a white belt.