where to buy a hakama made for a women?

[cruzemi]

i wanted to buy a hakama that was built for the body of a women but cheap. i have seen a place that sells one but its around 133 dollars. anyone care to help me?

[ben]

I can't see how a hakama is restrictive or problematic for a woman's body. A friend of mine was still practicing iaido 7-months pregnant, and it was amazing to see how comfortable she was not only with the hakama slung under her large belly, but also with her sword wedged through her obi. Actually she looked exactly like some of our less-svelte male sensei!

Someone sells "women's hakama"? Where?

b

[Kendoka]

I can't see how a hakama is restrictive or problematic for a woman's body. A friend of mine was still practicing iaido 7-months pregnant, and it was amazing to see how comfortable she was not only with the hakama slung under her large belly, but also with her sword wedged through her obi. Actually she looked exactly like some of our less-svelte male sensei!

Someone sells "women's hakama"? Where?

b

All decent budogu suppliers can assist with custom made hakama. They will cost 20-30% more though.They just need measurements of the drop, waist and hips.

[densetsutekiyus]

Actually, traditionally a woman's hakama doesn't even have a koshiita, which is what separates it from a normal men's hakama.
However in Aikido, people adoped the hakama without the koshiita for everyone to use because as rumor has it, people would get injuries from regular aikido ukemi (which is what half of aikido keiko is composed of) and allegedly Saito sensei (the aikido weapons guru) was the first to have an injurie caused by the koshiita, in a combonation of tying his hakama in the traditional fashion (front of hakama tied first, then the back) after performing a hard fall. And so it was adopted that some aikidoka would use a hakama without a koshiita, and that all aikidoka would adopt a new way of tying it all together, (back of hakama tied first, then front). But enough about reishiki..

Here is a Link to a store that sells women's hakama:
https://bujindesign.com/womens-c-29_24.html?osCsid=99424a739de89a19d0cbdbd0788ae36d

P.S.: When selecting koshiita, select the one called "aiki koshiita" for a hakama without a koshiita.

[shred_lord]

Um, maybe, but the major different if the a women's hakama is not bifurcated (it's like a skirt), but the only martial art I know of where these are still worn is Kyudo.

[MikeH]

Here is a Link to a store that sells women's hakama:
https://bujindesign.com/womens-c-29_24.html?osCsid=99424a739de89a19d0cbdbd0788ae36d

P.S.: When selecting koshiita, select the one called "aiki koshiita" for a hakama without a koshiita.

Aiki Kosita from Bujin Design isn't a hakama without a koshita. It's a koshita that is softened and has no hard corners so that when taking falls you're not rolling on something hard.

Hakama are not shaped for female physiques, the narrowness of the waist compared to the hips tends to make them flare out at the sides on some women, I suspect the original poster was talking about this issue. I have only ever seen womens hakama offered by Bujin Design. But that doesn't mean they aren't sold elsewhere. BUT I wouldn't order one from Bujin if using it for kendo or iai. One of my hakama is from bujin and the gaps at the side (the name for which has temporarily escaped me) go lower than a normal hakama, meaning that if you've got not zubon on underneath as you would be at aikido you're going to be exposing bare flesh to the world.

FWIW I've taken frequent hard ukemi wearing a regular hakama with a hard koshi and never injured myself.

Mike

[JoDuncan]

FWIW I've taken frequent hard ukemi wearing a regular hakama with a hard koshi and never injured myself.

Mike


me too.... bloody old man!

[densetsutekiyus]

Hakama are not shaped for female physiques, the narrowness of the waist compared to the hips tends to make them flare out at the sides on some women

Mike

Yeah, I forgot about this. Most women (because of this problem) will wear the hakama abnormally high on the waist to eliminate this problem. also I found an article on wikipedia about this. Just go to wikipedia and type in "hakama"

"Women's hakama differ from men's in a variety of ways, most notably fabric design and method of tying.

While men's hakama can be worn on both formal and informal occasions, except as part of martial arts wear, women rarely wear hakama except at graduation ceremonies. In some schools, hakama are reserved for senior students. Only very rarely are hakama worn by women at tea ceremony.

While formal men's hakama are made of striped fabric, women's hakama tend to be of single-colour or gradated fabric. Women wear hakama at the true waist, while men wear them slightly below. When a woman wears a hakama, she must also wear a men's obi.

The method of tying the ties is also different, with women's hakama being tied in a simpler knot or a bow. As with men's hakama, the front ties are first brought to the back, then to the front, then tied at the back in a knot. Then the back himo are brought around to the front. At this point, they may be tied with a bow at the left hip, just in front of the opening, with the ends of the ties at equal lengths. For more secure fastening, the ties may be wrapped once at center front, then tied inside at the back." -wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakama

[kiki67]

I can't see how a hakama is restrictive or problematic for a woman's body. A friend of mine was still practicing iaido 7-months pregnant, and it was amazing to see how comfortable she was not only with the hakama slung under her large belly, but also with her sword wedged through her obi. Actually she looked exactly like some of our less-svelte male sensei!

:D Not surprising that you can't understand how a hakama is restrictive for a woman's body, as you don't have one (woman's body, that is. I'm sure you have a hakama). Actually, hakamas somewhat suck for some women. For example, with mine, I have to wear it higher on my waist than a man because I've got some hips to contend with. Even men who are a little...pudgy, generally don't have the hip flare that women do, and hakamas are made to contend with the "lollipop" frame of heavier men. Since I wear my hakama so much higher on my waist, it is shorter than it should be. All sorts of little things like this befall the female hakama-wearer. My advice is to talk to your sensei (or if you are embarassed, a female sempai) and give them your measurements and try to see if you can't just get a regular hakama with planned "adjustments" (i.e., measure from right below your bellybutton to the floor to get a more appropriate length).

BTW, I don't think she was talking about classic male vs. female japanese garb. I think she was talking about a kendo-style hakama that is cut a little differently in the hip area so that it fits better around women's bodies. However, as the original poster pointed out, these types of hakama are more expensive! :(

[ben]

Ah thanks for the explanation Kiki, I didn't know there were hakama cut wider at the hips for women. Certainly it is conventional for women to wear the hakama higher than men, with the himo around the waist rather than around the hips. This would mean that most bogu co.'s sizing charts would not apply to women. Historically Japanese women have had pretty small hips, so I imagine this would be a more recent innovation for foreigners...?

I was reading somewhere a post by Ellis Amdur on e-budo re the 'male' vs 'female' hakama (culottes vs skirt as it were). He said that apparently they are not gender specific, and that both sexes wear both for different occasions. Wish I could remember where I saw that thread...

b

[MikeH]

Ah thanks for the explanation Kiki, I didn't know there were hakama cut wider at the hips for women. Certainly it is conventional for women to wear the hakama higher than men, with the himo around the waist rather than around the hips. This would mean that most bogu co.'s sizing charts would not apply to women. Historically Japanese women have had pretty small hips, so I imagine this would be a more recent innovation for foreigners...?

I was reading somewhere a post by Ellis Amdur on e-budo re the 'male' vs 'female' hakama (culottes vs skirt as it were). He said that apparently they are not gender specific, and that both sexes wear both for different occasions. Wish I could remember where I saw that thread...

b

Here?

http://www.aikidojournal.com/index.php?id=42

Mike

[ben]

Nice article but no. He makes no mention here of the difference between the two kinds of hakama. And it was in an ordinary e-budo thread I'm pretty sure.

b

[cruzemi]

thank you everyone for your help i'll just try buying the regular hakama and try to make it fit me. i'm a student so i don't really have 133 dollars to spend on a hakama

[JSchmidt]

Since I wear my hakama so much higher on my waist, it is shorter than it should be.

Women normally order longer hakamas for just that reason. I thought this was common knowledge?.

[kiki67]

Women normally order longer hakamas for just that reason. I thought this was common knowledge?.

well, I guess it depends on where you are. When I first started kendo, there weren't other women around to help me buy my hakama. I didn't assume that the sizing chart on the ordering form would be any different for me, since it said that the sizes were not gender specified. However, after that, I figured out to get longer ones. I kind of assumed that maybe the poster was in a situation similar to mine, and didn't realize that if you adjust the measurements to the way you would wear it than you don't have to buy a fancy "woman" hakama.