wearing hakama

[Badger]

Is the hakama pretty straight forward to put on for the first time? I'm about to buy and I am worried that I'm gonna tie a bow wrong and when I hit men people will see my men...:eek:
Online tutorial anywhere






I apologise for the bad joke.

[Sparv]

Everybody put it wrong the first time. Ask somebody to help you.
A quite helpful guide for the whole equipment can be found here (http://www6.big.or.jp/~budogu/manu/topm.htm)

BEWARE! You have to be very careful when you get up from seiza with a hakama. :laugh:

[Sparv]

Ooops! wrong link. I wanted to link the good translation of this manual. I use the french translation, which is very good.

[Kaoru]

Is the hakama pretty straight forward to put on for the first time? I'm about to buy and I am worried that I'm gonna tie a bow wrong and when I hit men people will see my men...:eek:
Online tutorial anywhere






I apologise for the bad joke.

I thought it was downright confusing at first, when I learned how to put it on. I'd suggest to get a sempai to help you learn to put it on. That's the easiest way to learn how to do it. You want to do it correctly so the thing won't fall off, and also, you want to be nice and neat and learning how from a photo can be difficult if you've never worn it before. Photos leave out too much in terms of detail. At least for me, they do anyway.

Just one thing... make sure you smooth out the back of the uniform so there are no wrinkles or bunches once you get the hakama on properly. And, pull the keiko-gi down all around. That's part of the looking nice bit. :) It'll loosen up during practice, but you should try to make it look nice anyway to start. And, I've been told that the committee looks at your manner of dress for gradings as well as everything else. So, it's a good idea to make it a habit to put things on and straighten everything out properly from the beginning. Anyway, l just wanted to pass that bit of info on. :)

Good luck. :) You'll be slow at getting it on right at first, but it just takes practice. Before you know it, you'll be putting it on in record time.

(Oh, and I almost didn't get your joke. I had to read it a couple times to see what you were talking about. Ughhhh... I get it now. hahaha!)

Kaoru

[Occidio]

Putting on the Hakama isn't all that bad if you check out the kendo manuals. Just make sure you get a gi that is the right size. Nothing irks me more than seeing a short gi worn with a hakama... just disturbing.

[JoDuncan]

One of the newer guys at our dojo managed to put both legs in one hakama leg, even with his sempai helping!

hehe. It's all part of the learning process, teaching you humility after you have mucked it up for the umpteenth time!

[LarsCW]

I think this is our time of fun after the new guys have been bashing us without us having been allowed to hit back:D

I had one time where I had my tare and doh on already and I found out that I forgot to tie the back of my hakama. This explained the big smiles of my dojo mates who kindly shut up hoping I wouldn't notice:D

This happend about 6 months ago.

[enkorat]

One of the newer guys at our dojo managed to put both legs in one hakama leg, even with his sempai helping!


Alas, I did this myself a few weeks ago. I was talking to someone while dressing and I started to tie up the hakama and I was like "....I... can't move, this is strange...."

Rather embarassing...

[futabachan]

BEWARE! You have to be very careful when you get up from seiza with a hakama.

That's why you do hakama biki (that little gesture between the legs to get the hakama to lay right) when you get down into it in the first place. Stepping on the hakama as you get up is... less than graceful. :-)

[futabachan]

One of the newer guys at our dojo managed to put both legs in one hakama leg, even with his sempai helping!

Preparing for a "hakama race," perhaps? (Apparently, the moral equivalent of the three-legged race in Japan involves two people wearing one hakama....)

[Masahiro]

maybe the guy thought he was still wearing a kilt... seeing as how they are in scotland!

[Badger]

Thanks guys for all the response. I think I downloaded a manual somewhere. I will check through there to see if its got information.

[futabachan]

Also, there's more than one way to do it. In naginata, for example, you tie the front himos around the outside of the koshi-ate, rather than tying them inside and tucking the toggle in. (Something to do with women's hakama vs. umanori?) And there are several different possible knots. Ask a sempai or sensei how your school does it....