Hakama meanings

[Po5i]

I searched this forum looking for a similar thread but there are too many unrelated results.

I also searched before the meaning of the hakama plates, but I found different meanings the most common is:

Jin
Gi
Rei
Chi
Shin
Makoto (back)
Chu (back)What are your concepts?

[Neil Gendzwill]

This is what I've heard:

1: Jin (benevolence)
2: Gi (justice)
3: Rei (manners)
4: Chi (wisdom)
5: Shin (faithfulness, trustfulness)

But for me, they're just big pants.

[Ignatz]

Is that going to be on the quiz?

[Neil Gendzwill]

Gawd, no. I put it in the JSA FAQ years ago, and just look it up every once in a blue moon when someone asks the question. I think attaching meaning to pleats is stretching things a bit, personally...

[stuartwilson]

For what it's worth, I have heard that these five meanings are "the five Confucian virtues."

[mark]

Just finished reading Dave Lawry's "In the Dojo: A Guide to the Rituals and Etiquette of the Japanese Martial Arts" Weatherhill Press, 2006, ISBN-13:978-0-8348-0572-9.

He has a full chapter on the hakama.

On the pleats he states (p70) " If we are to believe the stories that go around,... the pleats represent the seven virtues of the noble warrior - courage, fidelity, honor, good hygiene, plays well with others -I don't know. I do know there is no evidence of this in any historical Japanese texts on clothing that I have seen. I have never heard of this explanation at all, in fact outside Western dojo or books that purport it to be so. I suspect it is a fantasy or, at best, an ambitious bit of back-formation...
There is one pleat in the rear of the hakama. (Maybe if we buy into the virtues supposedly represented by these folds, it represents the better part of valor, as it does facilitate the ability to swiftly run away.)"

By the way the book is a good read and chock full of info on dojo reigi.

[neko kenshi]

This is what I've heard:

1: Jin (benevolence)
2: Gi (justice)
3: Rei (manners)
4: Chi (wisdom)
5: Shin (faithfulness, trustfulness)

But for me, they're just big pants.

Hmm, I seem to be losing sight of my manners and have two sets of wisdom, and I'm not sure which is correct... That can't be good.

[Aries]

yay. i have one of the kanji in my name!
guess its a silly thing to be excited about.

[Andy_Watson]

The whole thing does sound like a load of contrived nonsense doesn't it. It would suggest that the hakama was designed based on the virtues which sounds like utter claptrap - they're baggy trousers allowing people to climb onto horses for cripes sake!

Painful as it is for me to say so, I think that the whole concept of the virtues-to-hakama thing should be dropped and not used in grading question papers etc as it has been in the past.

[runsyi]

The whole thing does sound like a load of contrived nonsense doesn't it. It would suggest that the hakama was designed based on the virtues which sounds like utter claptrap - they're baggy trousers allowing people to climb onto horses for cripes sake!

Painful as it is for me to say so, I think that the whole concept of the virtues-to-hakama thing should be dropped and not used in grading question papers etc as it has been in the past.

Claptrap or not, I think attaching meaning to the hakama does serve a purpose. It reminds the kenshi about the qualities that Kendo is supposed to help foster every time they fold their hakama.

[xvikingx]

It reminds the kenshi about the qualities that Kendo is supposed to help foster every time they fold their hakama.

I would like to know how many people are actually reminded of these virtues when they fold up their hakama. How many people can remember them without looking them up? I am reminded that I need to bring a damp rag to clean up the floor of the locker room, so my gear doesn’t get so dirty. The viking’s vote is with claptrap.
Things like this are asked during grading for what reason? Do you ever wonder why they just want you to copy down what you have read? (Rhetorical questions; please don’t answer) In order not to sidetrack the whole thread I suggest you check out the 1-dan (maybe 5-dan?) cheat sheet thread in the Grading section where this topic has already been brought up.

[kartoffelngeist]

I would like to know how many people are actually reminded of these virtues when they fold up their hakama. How many people can remember them without looking them up? I am reminded that I need to bring a damp rag to clean up the floor of the locker room, so my gear doesn’t get so dirty. The viking’s vote is with claptrap.
Things like this are asked during grading for what reason? Do you ever wonder why they just want you to copy down what you have read? (Rhetorical questions; please don’t answer) In order not to sidetrack the whole thread I suggest you check out the 1-dan (maybe 5-dan?) cheat sheet thread in the Grading section where this topic has already been brought up.

Yep.......

[Usagi San]

[QUOTE=Andy_Watson;225323](...) It would suggest that the hakama was designed based on the virtues which sounds like utter claptrap - they're baggy trousers allowing people to climb onto horses for cripes sake!QUOTE]

I don't mean you, of course, but many people, even budoka, always tend to think of "budo values" as someting of a recipe:

2 spoons of budism;
250 gr of xintoism;
500 gr of Zen;
and, of course, bushido at will.

And there you have it, your Budo values/philosophy cake.

[R Stroud]

The whole thing does sound like a load of contrived nonsense doesn't it. It would suggest that the hakama was designed based on the virtues which sounds like utter claptrap - they're baggy trousers allowing people to climb onto horses for cripes sake!

Painful as it is for me to say so, I think that the whole concept of the virtues-to-hakama thing should be dropped and not used in grading question papers etc as it has been in the past.

Note sure what came first the hakama or the pleat meanings... but I can confirm that this concept is taught by various sensei IN JAPAN. First time I heard it was many years ago from Honda sensei in Fukuoka, in fact the material was presented in Japanese as a handout and included a statement linking the five rings of bamboo growth knots in a shinai to the same 5 concepts. Here is the English translation (http://www.idaho-kendo.com/Kendo/Info/hakama_pleats.pdf) I made, but unfortunately I cannot find the original version in Japanese.

For me the easiest way to look at this is to accept that someone a long time ago in Japan assigned meaning to the pleats (and shinai bumps) which matched the five concept very nicely. Not a bad thing, and as someone else has pointed out, it serves as a useful reminder for us simple kendo students.

As far as which questions are used on Dan shinsa tests, I have seen a lot worse...

[xvikingx]

I can confirm that this concept is taught by various sensei IN JAPAN....

Well they teach a lot of things in Japan, like this, that are just rhetoric. They are insincere, and intellectually vacuous. My sensei and I were talking about this at our yearend party and they expressed their discontent with this method because it really doesn't teach you anything but to remember what the textbook answer is.
My comments were not about it's usefulness as a dan shinsa question but about dan shinsa questions in general and it's purpose. They want you to copy down what's in the book, they don't want you think about it and write what it means to you. So what's the point? I feel these pleat meanings are just another example of that.
Do people really hold these virtues true to their heart and think about them when folding their hakama? That would be nice but to me it seems more like proof of what you know about kendo. There are meanings to how one folds his/her hakama. Do people fold their himo inwards because they are ashamed? No, it's because that is how it's done.
Usagi mentioned bushido values.... bushido reminds me of religion; people claim to follow something, but pick and choose what values are convenient to abide by.

[namabiru]

How funny. I, too, recently read this book, and was just about to say the same thing! Great minds think alike, ne.


Just finished reading Dave Lawry's "In the Dojo: A Guide to the Rituals and Etiquette of the Japanese Martial Arts" Weatherhill Press, 2006, ISBN-13:978-0-8348-0572-9.

He has a full chapter on the hakama.

On the pleats he states (p70) " If we are to believe the stories that go around,... the pleats represent the seven virtues of the noble warrior - courage, fidelity, honor, good hygiene, plays well with others -I don't know. I do know there is no evidence of this in any historical Japanese texts on clothing that I have seen. I have never heard of this explanation at all, in fact outside Western dojo or books that purport it to be so. I suspect it is a fantasy or, at best, an ambitious bit of back-formation...
There is one pleat in the rear of the hakama. (Maybe if we buy into the virtues supposedly represented by these folds, it represents the better part of valor, as it does facilitate the ability to swiftly run away.)"

By the way the book is a good read and chock full of info on dojo reigi.