Anyone tried Bu Jin Design's Hakama?

[dog3110]

Hey. I want to buy a good hakama,
all other onlines stores, except Bu Jin, has the same design of the hakama.
I dont know if that matter any bit...
can anyone tell me about their hakama?

[Serenity]

Aloha dog3110! :)
About Bu Jin; I don’t have any hakama and keikogi jet, but when the right time arrives, I will get it by Bu Jin. The reason why I’m going to buy it there is because they are the only one who makes hakamas for women. The second reason their hakamas are custom made (every hakama is unique, made especially for you). :smiley: And tht Bu Jin hakma look so dame cool! :devious:
I had a couple of questions and I wrote a mail and I must say I was very surprised. The costume service (Peter Boyer) was so nice, friendly and so helpful. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact Bu Jin, you won’t get disappointed. They find a solution for every problem and they answer any of your questions.

I come from Europe and I asked for their catalogue and I got one; I was so shocked (i dindn't expect to get one) and happy. :cheerful:

About the price; good quality is expensive. :down: My personal philosophy is give a little bit more money, buy good quality and you will have it for a long time. ;) No hakama is cheep (unless you buy it in China and Koreas -> I’m not saying those hakamas aren´t good), risk some more money and you get a good quality hakama.

As I said, I don’t posses any Bu Jin hakama, but I have read a lot of good opinions on one other forum. The majority opinions were posted by girls and they were very satisfied and haver recommended the Bu Jin hakama. :ditsy:

I hope a Bu Jin buyer will say a few words about their hakama. I would like to know about the quality: how is the quality? Do they fit perfectly? And what about the colours: do they get pale after washing? What about washing the hakama (I think they can be washed in the wash machine)? :confused:
I want to get some further information, so please Bu Jin buyers, please share with us your experiences. :cheeky:


Serenity :wink:

[Paul Kerr]

I have 2 Bujin hakama that I got for aikido. One is the heavyweight 100% cotton model which I don't like that much. It lost the pleats real quick and feels like canvas to wear. The other- the twill blend - is excellent. Good weight and feel and very nice to wear. Both are indestructible - each has had 4 years or so of regular suwariwaza training (kneeling techniques) and are not even close to showing signs of wear. I'd but another Bujin twill hakama in an instant, but not the heavyweight cotton.

[tantadi]

Haven't tried Bu Jin, but a very good thing is that you can get a combination of lengths and width. I don't think the ordinary asian hakama sizes will fit me.

[LNGUYEN]

A Little consideration for beginner if you are,
If you think about puting a lot for your Gi and Hakama, you should think about Bogu which you got to have later. I would rather invest more money into the bogu then the uniform. Sorry I don't have any experience with Bujin. I got my stuff from Bogubag, excellent place. My hakama is 10,000 Cotton Japanese made. It is excellent but no innovations, blue, 5 pleads in front, no stripe. The price is excellent too. Stroud Sensei, 6 dan, who runs Bogubag which Koei distributor. He can get whatever, you want.

[Hongsermeier]

I'm not familiar with there uniforms, but I have their bogu bag and shinai case. If they put half as much effort into their Hakama's as they do their bags it should be very good. :cross_eye:

[Paul Kerr]

One other thing: a big advantage of Bujin's hakama are that they don't bleed dye on you. The cotton fades over time very nicely, but they don't indigo dye stuff so you can be a smurf-free zone.

Bujin's hakama are, i.m.o., designed with aikidoka in mind so they are very robust to withstand a lot of "mat time" and general abuse. So, for build quality they are one of the best hakama you can buy.

[R A Sosnowski]

Hey. I want to buy a good hakama,
all other onlines stores, except Bu Jin, has the same design of the hakama.
I dont know if that matter any bit...
can anyone tell me about their hakama?

Good construction and good prices for custom work (which I need). Also, they are generous with the Himo unlike the two Japanese Hakama I have.

I have four from Bu Jin. I replaced my original light-weight Hakama after Aikido and Iaido work from Seiza put holes in the knees. My wife patched them, and I still use them for practicing Iaido by myself.

I like the middle-weight Hakama for Embu and Shinsa.

Beware of the heavy all-cotton monster. Mine took about 5 years to "break in." Pleats need to be ironed after washing or you lose them. However, for outdoor Kyudo practice during cooler weather (40-65 F), there is nothing better (unless you care to wear long-johns under your Hakama).

HTH.

[dog3110]

Thanks for the tips.
I'm thinking about getting the twill kind(is that right?)
it's cheaper then reg. 10000 jap. hakamas, so I think it is a good buy.
Also, since Bujin twill is not 100%cotton,
it would be easier to take care of...i think
anyways, thanks again :D

[DCPan]

Hi,

If you are going to use a Bujin, remember to ask them to add a spoon to the koshiita for you to hold it up. Aikido folks don't use the spoon as you don't really wanna break fall onto one.

Also, I don't know if they still do the reverse pleating (i.e. 3 on right). As them for the standard pleat if you plan on doing iai as well as kendo. Also, the kendo/iaido hakama hem is sloped with the forward being slightly lower than the back...might want to check that too.

Personally, I now like the 8000 weave cotton for kendo practice. The 10000 weave a little too thick...in retrospect...a pain to wash. Anyone tried the 12000 weave or the 10800 weave? Seems more like marketing than anything...can't imagine anything tighter than 10000 being functionally comfortable.

For iai, my favorite hakama is still the Tozando AH-500 100% polyester...it has a pretty sheen, very soft feel yet stands up to abuse, also breaths well despite being synthetic material. I asked them to do a kendo cut for me as it is really an aikido hakama and add a spoon and adjusted the himo length. The 100% polyester definitely feels better than the "toray" 65%/35% mix.

BTW, Stroud sensei will do custom himo length for you with no extra charge if you tell him when ordering.

:D

[Hai_hai]

Hey. I want to buy a good hakama,
all other onlines stores, except Bu Jin, has the same design of the hakama.
I dont know if that matter any bit...
can anyone tell me about their hakama?

I have a #10000 hakama from e-bogu. Very nice in my opinion. It is a chore to take care of but it always looks good.

This is the vanity side of me talking... lightweight hakama is flowing and flimsy like a woman's evening gown and looks awful when in kamae and sonkyo because it drapes and folds together and doesn't appear wide... heavyweight hakama has a certain amount of stiffness that looks good all the time.

[Stink Rat !]

Hi all, new to this forum wanted to pick some brains, does anyone know where you can have Hakama custom made ?
Thank you

[Bruce Mitchell]

Sorry to report, but Bujin has gone out of business (or is shut down for the time being, I think they are trying to find a buyer for the business).

[DCPan]

Hi all, new to this forum wanted to pick some brains, does anyone know where you can have Hakama custom made ?
Thank you

Various vendors, such as Tozando or Chibabogu will do it for you for a ~20% markup.

[rfoxmich]

I had one I used for more years than some of the younger posters here are alive. They are durable..and if I ever take the time to properly sew the pocket that holds the koshi-ita closed again, I could probably get a few more years out of it. Unfortunately a visit to their website says they've 'suspended operations' and invite serious partnerships (this is a euphemism I think for gone out of business unless some sugar daddy can pump some dollars into them).

[Cailin Coilleac]

As an update, Bujin Design appear to have teamed up with Kendo24, as is announced on their site. The Kendo24 site doesn't show their goods yet, so I'm curious what the future will bring.

[MikalMysha]

As an update, Bujin Design appear to have teamed up with Kendo24, as is announced on their site. The Kendo24 site doesn't show their goods yet, so I'm curious what the future will bring.

An update to this update. It seems that at least on the european side of Kendo24 they don't really actively advertise that they carry Bujin. I ordered the coolmax uniform set and was extremely surprised to get a Bujin gi and hakama.

[Cailin Coilleac]

A while back I had a small email discussion with Bernd, asking about why their stock seemed to be dwindling. Apparently this was due to them switching stuff around to Bujin stock. I'm really curious what their site will advertise in a few weeks/months.

It's a shame that their "Einsteiger Set" doesn't appear to be available anymore. That's what I bought as my first steps into kendo and it was a great deal! A hundred euros for a decent hakama, gi, shinai and bokken. I'd buy that set again in a heartbeat!

[MikalMysha]

A while back I had a small email discussion with Bernd, asking about why their stock seemed to be dwindling. Apparently this was due to them switching stuff around to Bujin stock. I'm really curious what their site will advertise in a few weeks/months.

It's a shame that their "Einsteiger Set" doesn't appear to be available anymore. That's what I bought as my first steps into kendo and it was a great deal! A hundred euros for a decent hakama, gi, shinai and bokken. I'd buy that set again in a heartbeat!

Weirdly enough, I emailed Bernd about that set back in January, and he said that it would be restocked by middle Jan... I have this sneaking suspicion that they might be having some stock issues, especially with Shinai right now. It seems as though they are also selling out of stuff faster than they can stock it, but hopefully in the future they will have some really nice things.

[Cailin Coilleac]

Yup. I love their service, which is why I'll continue shopping with them for my essentials. Only my bogu was bought elsewhere.