Hakama too long?

[Grenamier]

Starting with next week's keiko, I'm going to start wearing a new hakama I bought from e-bogu some time ago. I've tried it on at home a few times, but to get the bottom edge of the hakama to just touch the tops of my feet, I have to tie the himo just under my rib cage instead of around my waist. It's not uncomfortable, but is that acceptable, or should I try to return it?

Apparently I have abnormally short legs because I've had this problem with pants before. At least with pants, I can get them hemmed. If I can't trust a dry cleaner to keep the pleats, I don't think I want to risk taking my hakama to Stitch-It.

Thanks in advance.

[Kumdo-Star]

Starting with next week's keiko, I'm going to start wearing a new hakama I bought from e-bogu some time ago. I've tried it on at home a few times, but to get the bottom edge of the hakama to just touch the tops of my feet, I have to tie the himo just under my rib cage instead of around my waist. It's not uncomfortable, but is that acceptable, or should I try to return it?

Apparently I have abnormally short legs because I've had this problem with pants before. At least with pants, I can get them hemmed. If I can't trust a dry cleaner to keep the pleats, I don't think I want to risk taking my hakama to Stitch-It.

Thanks in advance.mine was too long too but i had my mom put buttons on each side of the legings and i would button them up i got mine a few days ago

[Flylkorean]

How tall are you ?

Maybe this guide will help you :
http://www.eguchi.net/cart_gi_5.htm

[Gregory]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Takara-Blythe-doll-Hakama-Graduate-Uniform-Outfit-boots_W0QQitemZ5616310858QQcategoryZ36546QQrdZ1QQc mdZViewItem


I love how they call it a dress

[Kumdo-Star]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Takara-Blythe-doll-Hakama-Graduate-Uniform-Outfit-boots_W0QQitemZ5616310858QQcategoryZ36546QQrdZ1QQc mdZViewItem


I love how they call it a dress i think it's funny

[Kmav]

Starting with next week's keiko, I'm going to start wearing a new hakama I bought from e-bogu some time ago. I've tried it on at home a few times, but to get the bottom edge of the hakama to just touch the tops of my feet, I have to tie the himo just under my rib cage instead of around my waist. It's not uncomfortable, but is that acceptable, or should I try to return it?

Apparently I have abnormally short legs because I've had this problem with pants before. At least with pants, I can get them hemmed. If I can't trust a dry cleaner to keep the pleats, I don't think I want to risk taking my hakama to Stitch-It.

Thanks in advance.

You are supposed to have your hakama tied at your waist. It is better to cut it and stitch it up at the bottom, or you could try that button technique someone suggested.

[Kumdo-Star]

YA score one for me!!

[Yzakj]

I wouldn't suggest button as it might leave alittle flap for your feet to grab onto and tear the button off. I sew mines and everyone once and a while I do a bad move and it tears the seams, but it only rips the thread. I hope that with the button method you don't mess up your toe, just keep careful when practicing. I only mess mines up when I go from taiatari and do any hit backwards though, so maybe you won't have to deal with it for awhile. Anyway I hope you get it sorted out.

[Kumdo-Star]

I wouldn't suggest button as it might leave alittle flap for your feet to grab onto and tear the button off. I sew mines and everyone once and a while I do a bad move and it tears the seams, but it only rips the thread. I hope that with the button method you don't mess up your toe, just keep careful when practicing. I only mess mines up when I go from taiatari and do any hit backwards though, so maybe you won't have to deal with it for awhile. Anyway I hope you get it sorted out. you put the buttons on the outside

[Michael_St_A]

Why don't you just get one in the right size?

As opposed to trousers, the circumfence of your waist doesn't matter all that much when you buy hakama.

[nodachi]

Just sew it. I did mine myself! :) I think it is common when things like this are mail ordered, for most people, and they just don't seem to fit quite right. I got mine in person from a store and they misjudged my size or I was in an odd in between size or something and I still had to sew it. The pleats will still be nice and neat as long as you are careful about how you sew it. Hell, even I could do it and I don't really know how to sew.

[Mr. Donigan]

I'm bo no means a kendo authority, but I'll toss in my few cents worth. At my school we don't wear them arround the waist. We wear them up a bit bellow the rib cage. This is how we were taught, and it works well. Every student who has ordered hakama from e-bogu or e-kendo or any other place orders them by height, and they all fit great worn this way. So it seems to me that this is how it should be worn. In my dojo it is, sinse that is how our sensei showed us. Now I'm going to say what is always said in the forum. Ask your sensei. There is no officail "in the kendo Bible" way to wear them. Your dojo will have a way, and mostlikely a reason.

[tantadi]

I thought that there were are general consensus about the men wearing the hakama sitting on the hip bones. That is what the vendors tell you to measure from when you buy hakama. (For the women, it is around the waist).

[Hai_hai]

Starting with next week's keiko, I'm going to start wearing a new hakama I bought from e-bogu some time ago. I've tried it on at home a few times, but to get the bottom edge of the hakama to just touch the tops of my feet, I have to tie the himo just under my rib cage instead of around my waist. It's not uncomfortable, but is that acceptable, or should I try to return it?

Apparently I have abnormally short legs because I've had this problem with pants before. At least with pants, I can get them hemmed. If I can't trust a dry cleaner to keep the pleats, I don't think I want to risk taking my hakama to Stitch-It.

Thanks in advance.
Just from your description, the hakama is too long if you are tying up to your rib cage. Try to exchange for the next smaller size.

[Nameless]

Just from your description, the hakama is too long if you are tying up to your rib cage. Try to exchange for the next smaller size.

Yeah...sounds too long to me. I was always told to wear the hakama around my navel.

[Grenamier]

Thanks for all the responses. I'll consult my sempais and sensei at keiko this week and probably email e-bogu to see if they'll exchange it for me. If they won't, I'll just have my wife hem it. It's only the "lightweight" one from e-bogu. I would be more bothered if it were a nice RBSO deluxe one. I can't afford that anyway...I'm an SO without the RB.

[Grenamier]

I'm 5'4", with legs apparently better suited to a 5'1" guy if I compare my measuring to the fit charts. Thanks.

[Gregory]

Thanks for all the responses. I'll consult my sempais and sensei at keiko this week and probably email e-bogu to see if they'll exchange it for me. If they won't, I'll just have my wife hem it. It's only the "lightweight" one from e-bogu. I would be more bothered if it were a nice RBSO deluxe one. I can't afford that anyway...I'm an SO without the RB.

YOU GUYS GET IT???


RB = RICH BOY

SO= SHOW OFF

HE IS JUST A SHOWOFF!!! AHAAAH


ok

[Lloromannic]

YOU GUYS GET IT???


RB = RICH BOY

SO= SHOW OFF

HE IS JUST A SHOWOFF!!! AHAAAH


ok

Why, yes we do.

[Mr. Donigan]

Yeah...sounds too long to me. I was always told to wear the hakama around my navel.

My navel is equal hight to the bottum of my ribs. I don't think these hakama are to long, it sounds like they are to low. They should not be worn arround the hips. They aren't jeans. Ask your sensei before you sew them, or add buttons.

[tantadi]

Where do you get this from? Never seen anything BUT that the men should wear the hakama on the hip. Have you seen a japanese man with hakama round the waist, ever?

[Miravil]

I was told that the trend of Japanese men doesn't wear their hakama at waist level because they can't wear it on their beer tummy/belly (what you call that???). So the best way is to wear it lower = hips. :smiley:

[Nameless]

Where do you get this from? Never seen anything BUT that the men should wear the hakama on the hip. Have you seen a japanese man with hakama round the waist, ever?

Yes...in almost every pre-WWII photograph I've ever seen. Wearing it at the hips is the reason why people are often either A: wearing a size 7 gi with a size 4 hakama. or B: complaining that their hakama is too long and tripping over it. Besides wearing pants too tight and too low is the reason why people develop large protruding bellies that hang over their belt line.

[Nameless]

My navel is equal hight to the bottum of my ribs. I don't think these hakama are to long, it sounds like they are to low. They should not be worn arround the hips. They aren't jeans. Ask your sensei before you sew them, or add buttons.


Really?...My navel is a good four inches lower than the bottom of my ribs.

[Kingofmyrrh]

http://www.geocities.jp/ikushinkai_p/d-h-.html

2nd photo down (1st photo of hakama explanation). 'Wrap the front himo over the hip bones'.

If you wear the hakama just under the ribs, you'll look like the woman on the left here:

http://homepage2.nifty.com/910/yumi/y_27.html

She's wearing hakama as you might in everyday life (although the only time that I can think of that girls wear hakama is for graduation). The girl on the right is wearing hers for kyudo, which emphasises ease of movement. It explicitly states on that site (although not that page) that boys should wear it even lower.

Here's a photo originally from kendo jidai about the ideal way to wear kendo stuff:
http://t-shobudo.com/kodawari/koe/koe0305.html

You can discern the height of the hakama pretty easily from the third shot.

[Mr. Donigan]

Where do you get this from? Never seen anything BUT that the men should wear the hakama on the hip. Have you seen a japanese man with hakama round the waist, ever?

http://www.geocities.jp/ikushinkai_p/d-h-05.jpg When I look at this I have a good idea where this guy's navel is. And this doesn't look to be arround his hips to me. I'm not going to get into an argument though. I personally don't care how you wear your hakama. Since we're talking on a forum and can't really show each other what me mean. Based on the photos that have been posted I think we have the same idea, but differences in what we call hips, navels, beer bellies etc. My advice, (like I said before) ask your sensei before you go sewing, or adding buttons.

[runsyi]

I'm 5'4", with legs apparently better suited to a 5'1" guy if I compare my measuring to the fit charts. Thanks.

I'm 5'4 and wear a 24 hakama. One of my hakama is also the light-weight cotton hakama from e-bogu. It used to be the perfect length but it has since SHRANK! Just thought you might want to take that into consideration before you get a new one. Maybe the higher quality hakama don't shrink as much?

[Yiu Fai]

I just got a Koei Hakama in the mail from bogubag and it is waaaaay to long and the himo are shorter than I'm used to. Anyone had any experience in exchanging hakama which although have not been worn, are missing all the white threads used to hold the pleats together? I'm emailing them as we speak, but I'm seeking a consumer perspective

[Nameless]

I just got a Koei Hakama in the mail from bogubag and it is waaaaay to long and the himo are shorter than I'm used to. Anyone had any experience in exchanging hakama which although have not been worn, are missing all the white threads used to hold the pleats together? I'm emailing them as we speak, but I'm seeking a consumer perspective


I've noticed that most of the himo on new hakama seem short to me. Then after wearing them a few times they stretch and are fine. As far the white strings on the hakama, it's really impossible to try them on without removing the strings first. If you got on without strings it may have been returned by another customer before you.

[Grenamier]

I just got a Koei Hakama in the mail from bogubag and it is waaaaay to long and the himo are shorter than I'm used to. Anyone had any experience in exchanging hakama which although have not been worn, are missing all the white threads used to hold the pleats together? I'm emailing them as we speak, but I'm seeking a consumer perspective
Not long after I started this thread, I ended up exchanging some emails with e-Bogu and they agreed that they could do a size exchange. So I sent it, exchanged a couple more emails after they received it to discuss sizing and they sent back the exchange. I paid for the shipping costs and also a small restocking fee because I cut off the white strings too. It was a very good experience from e-bogu and the only real difficulty was being without a hakama and gi for a while.

I imagine you would have to pay the restocking fee too, but it'll be small and so far I'd say all of the suppliers I've used so far (CKT Sports in Toronto, e-Bogu in California, Aoi Bodogu in British Columbia, and Tozando in Japan) have had excellent customer service.

[Grenamier]

I just got a Koei Hakama in the mail from bogubag and it is waaaaay to long and the himo are shorter than I'm used to. Anyone had any experience in exchanging hakama which although have not been worn, are missing all the white threads used to hold the pleats together? I'm emailing them as we speak, but I'm seeking a consumer perspective
Not long after I started this thread, I ended up exchanging some emails with e-Bogu and they agreed that they could do a size exchange. So I sent it, exchanged a couple more emails after they received it to discuss sizing and they sent back the exchange. I paid for the shipping costs and also a small restocking fee because I cut off the white strings too. It was a very good experience from e-bogu and the only real difficulty was being without a hakama and gi for a while.

I imagine you would have to pay the restocking fee too, but it'll be small and so far I'd say all of the suppliers I've used so far (CKT Sports in Toronto, e-Bogu in California, Aoi Bodogu in British Columbia, and Tozando in Japan) have had excellent customer service.

[Yiu Fai]

I took my too long koei hakama to the tailors who do all my work clothes and they did a mighty fine job of taking the hakama up and extending the himo. The only thing they got wrong was that the right hand side back pleat is not as straight as it used to be, but only very minimally. I now know that whenever I order a koei hakama to order it one size smaller!

[EBP2K2]

I just bought a hakama and am going to take it to my tailor over the weekend... how long should it be, just covering the ankle, right?

[Yiu Fai]

My hakama just touches the top of my feet. I prefer it that way, some people like to wear theirs higher.

[DCPan]

Check out this informative diagram.

http://www.chibabogu.com/catalog/information.php?info_id=15&osCsid=ad3b592ab2d2ed7d20a4a8d4bda58461

By chart, I'm size 25...I actually tried buying a size 25 once...it was cotton...it also shrunk about 7 cm after a couple of washes.

I wonder what people do in the interim while they are waiting for the hakama to shrink?

[tantadi]

I wonder what people do in the interim while they are waiting for the hakama to shrink?

Tie it high. Guys with their hakama tied under their chest don't look too good, but most of the time it is hidden under the bogu.

[Louis X]

Maybe it's just the legs too short the problem no ? :D