girl in kendo

[tweetyness]

What color do females usually wear for kendo? I am just starting and there is only one other girl in the group; she's new too. what is different from guy's stuff?

[xvikingx]

I hear that white gear is for ladies, but honestly to this day I have only seen girls wearing the same blue hakima+gi and regular bogu as the guys. Your sensei might prefer everyone to have the same color uniform, so you should probably ask him/her first.

[Inouye02]

[where in wisconsin do you practice at ?

[tweetyness]

Right now I'm at school in Madison, but during the summer I'll live near Milwaukee. I'm probably joining the university Kendo Club and I am looking around for more information. I am also trying to see where I could go for training if I am still at it when I graduate (in 4.5 years).

[tweetyness]

The regular armor will still fit okay, right?

[tango]

what do you mean "the regular armor will still fit?"
.. asking your sensei is fine...

i've seen females wear all white (white keikogi and white hakama).. .i've seen them wear all blue... i've seen them wear white keikogi and blue hakama.., but i've never seen anyone wear blue keikogi with white hakama.. that would be really strange.

some women wear white bogu... white kote, white men, white tare, red dou.. but then again, i've seen them wear regular blue kote/men/tare...

i guess in the greater scheme of things, it doesn't really matter. there's not real "set rule" about women HAVING to wear a specific color (white vs. blue)..

[Karaken]

The regular armor will still fit okay, right?

Yes.. Also somewhere in this forum you can search for a particular problem related to female and bogu but I think that only applies to only a few women. White bogu is sometimes worn by female but it doesn't go well unless you wear white gi and hakama as well.. Keep it regular is my recommendation.

Center

[Kiki]

At my dojo most of us wear all indigo w/standard blue bogu (like most men)
a few wear all white w/red and white bogu (a few men, but w/blue bogu)
and a few wear white keikogi and indigo hakama w/blue bogu (several men)

Kendo gear is not gender specific. :wink:

I asked my Sensei before I bought my gear and he said it was a matter of choice at our dojo. Always good to ask your Sensei.

Regarding Women and bogu, here's the thread:
http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/showthread.php?t=284&highlight=bras

Good luck and I hope you stick with kendo.

[Hattori Hanzo]

If you are just starting you can go with sweats

[mystic_kendoka]

http://www.geocities.com/sungi_razer/blue.JPG

i've never seen anyone wear blue keikogi with white hakama.. that would be really strange.

There is a girl in my dojo with blue and white..
I put a link of a picture of her...

[tango]

hrmm.. that'd be a first for me to see it!

...sorry, though, but your link didn't work for me :(

anyway, i guess it'd be ok to wear a blue top/white bottom .. i assume that most folks do not do that (obviously there are some, though) because the indigo from the keikogi, mixed with a healthy dose of sweat, could bleed through the white hakama... and that'd be a pain to deal with --- trying to get those hakama gleaming white again...

just thinking out loud... i'd still like to see the pic though if you can get it to work :)

[Musha]

I think the real rules in Japan are that Men with bougu wear Black hakama blue Keiko gi, Blue hakama Blue keikogi. In Nito maybe white hakama and keikogi.
Women wear white hakama and keikogi children with bougu wear blue or black hakama and children's white keikogi with cotton pattern and children with out bougu wear samurai style hachimaki (tenugui).

I guess this is just so people can easily be recognised so the same type of people can fence each other in Taikai. But in England and out side Japan I do not think this really matters too much because unlike Japan people of all ages and both sexes start kendo at any age.

[JSchmidt]

I think the real rules in Japan are

There are no such rules. There are trends & to some extend traditions, but not rules.

Jakob

[JimB]

I'm not sure if this is a standard we have, but the ladies at our dojo wear the white keikogi with the regular indigo hakama.

I'm glad to see there are women willing to give Kendo a try. I hope you enjoy the art and encourage more of your friends to try it as well.

[mystic_kendoka]

hrmm.. that'd be a first for me to see it!

...sorry, though, but your link didn't work for me :(

Try copy pasting the link into your browser...seems to be a problem on kendo-world..

[Hai_hai]

What color do females usually wear for kendo? I am just starting and there is only one other girl in the group; she's new too. what is different from guy's stuff?

You wear what is the rule for your dojo.

[Musha]

There are no such rules. There are trends & to some extend traditions, but not rules.

Jakob
Do you mean you can wear a pink Hakama with flowers on then :D??.

I mean that is what most people wear and I don't think there are many very young peoples Kiko gi that look like the full sized ones.

[JSchmidt]

"Do you mean you can wear a pink Hakama with flowers on then "

Yes.

[Musha]

waw :D.....

[Gohanssj]

well, the girls in our dojo where the same clothing but its white instead of black and dark blue.

[Kiki]

"Do you mean you can wear a pink Hakama with flowers on then...

If you have your name embroidered on the hahkama you can order pink thread. :wink: Some of the high school girls I have seen at tournaments did this. Looks sharp on the indigo hakama. Red thread on the white is not bad either. Mine is silver on blue. Just some options to think about, it's not like we buy new hakamas every year.

[orayakab]

I think in the past, common practice was that women wear white, men wear indigo but like the other posts mentioned..this practice is fading....Most men and women wear indigo dyed keikogi/hakama. And the flip side to that coin is that Some Males wear all white keikogi and hakama. Also some dojos have the practice or policy of having non-dan practictioners wear a white top. If they chose to wear a blue keikogi they put a white stripe on the arm to signify non-dan status.

I heard that in one Univ. Kendo Club in Kyushu, the girls club and the boys club practice with the head instructor on alternate days. When he wants to practice with the men's team, he wears blue; white is worn when he wants to practice with the women's team.

The only people that I know of who wear all white out of policy is the Japanese Imperial Police who protect the emperor. All Kogu-Keisatsu wear all white keikogi/hakama when attending tournaments, demonstrations, etc. Anybody ever realize that Matsunaga Sensei always wears white?

Orayakab, U.

[Musha]

I am not sure of this but I think if you do Nito kendo you wear White because Miyamoto Musashi wore this in his picture. Not completely sure of this though. http://www.hakudoh.com/musasi/phot/musasi03.jpg

[AlexM]

Speaking of wearing white: Check out the kendo instructors at Budai. (International Budo University)

See for yourself:

http://www.geocities.com/japadventures/mainstruct2.html

Who's game to call them women? :D

[Raiza]

Musashi had bad hair too, so make sure to mess up your hair before practising nito. :rolleyes:

Still trying can learn nito (http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/showpost.php?p=31406&postcount=1) from that questionable "niten" (http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2030&referrerid=235) book you've purchased instead of training at a kendo dojo as you claim (http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/showpost.php?p=31502&postcount=4), Musha?

The proof is in your posts.

[Musha]

Sure am Raiza,

If I could buy one of the Concords they were selling and fly to Japan or Brazil or some where every week I could learn, but now I know how to cut 'Shoumen', 'Kote' 'Gyaku-do' and 'Kirikaeshi'. I asked my Sensei if I could fence with some one at the end of my normal Kendo class but unfortunately there was not enough time :(. If I can keep the Daitou in my hands for 3 minutes I will be happy. :cool:

[twotoedgiraffe]

Don't forget to accessorise now! Don't forget the shinai earrings and the dye defying lotion for you daily kendo needs.

[meow]

Hi,

In our dojo, women wear the same as the men: indigo blue. :wink: