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A hakama is the skirt-like pants that some Ju-jitsu practitioners wear.
Traditionally, it was worn by the samurai. The standard gi worn
in Karate, Aikido and Judo classes as well as in other martial
arts was usually the underclothes.
Originally, the
hakama was worn as an outer garment to protect a samurai horseman's
legs from brush, weeds, etc. (similar to a cowboys leather chaps).
In Japan, since leather was so very hard to come by, heavy cloth
was used in its place. After the samurai made the transition from
mounted soldiers to foot soldiers, they continued to wear the
hakama largely due to the fact that it set them apart and made
them easily identifiable.
Saito
Sensei tells the story about hakamas during the old days in Hombu Dojo:
Most of the
students were too poor to buy a hakama but it was required that
everyone wear one. If the student could not get one from an older
relative, they would remove the cover from an old futon, cut it,
dye it, and have it made into a hakama. Since the dyes that were
used were very cheap, the colorful pattern of the futon would
start to show through the dye. Eventually, the stuffing from the
futon would start to work its way out of the material.
The Hombu dojo
was a very colorful place, with all the various colors of hakama.
Traditional hakama were not just solid colors. The material used
often had patterns woven or printed onto them.
In most Ju-Jitsu
schools of today, the hakama is reserved for the yudansha (black belt students). Few schools allow all practitioners to
wear one, while some schools allow women to start wearing it much
earlier than men (general modesty of women is the explanation,
since a gi was originally undergarments).
The hakama has
7 folds in it (5 in the front, 2 in the back) and has the following
symbolic meaning:
1. Yuki - courage, valor, bravery
2. Jin - humanity, charity,
benevolence
3. Gi - justice, righteousness,
integrity
4. Rei - etiquette, courtesy,
civility (obedience)
5. Makoto - sincerity, honesty,
reality
6. Chugi - loyalty, fidelity,
devotion
7. Meiyo - honor, dignity, prestige
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