The Hakama
Putting on and folding the hakama isn’t that suited to blog entries. It’s a matter of repetitive tasks that don’t conform well to written notes. However, I’ve brought my hakama back home for laundry, and I’ll need to figure out how to fold it (neatly) on my own.
Google results don’t seem to be that helpful, since the same drawing has been copied on from one kendo or aikido website to another, like a piece of Xerox-lore. The folding diagram is generally what we do, but it misses a few tricks of movement, in terms of how to get a neat bundle before the final ribbon tying. This kendo site seems to have an extra tuck underneath the himo that, at least from the description, makes an easier to carry package. The way we fold the hakama, the ribbons are nicely tied, but you can’t pick it up by the himo, since the bulk of the hakama will just unravel, and this extra tuck seems to fix that. I’m not sure if you’re supposed to pick it up by the himo in the first place, though, and the way these kendo people do it leaves a wider-than-expected package.
The main tricks that are left out of the folding diagrams have to do with lifting the hakama up in the early stages to help resolve out the worst crumpling. There’s also a need to pay a lot of attention to straightening the pleats before folding the “wings” over them. These are the subtle nuances left out of the first three pictures; everything has to be neat before working on the himo. Tying the himo is actually relatively easy.
I think I have a good idea on how to put on the hakama securely now, after being dressed by other people a half dozen times. The available diagrams either presume some sort of weird suspenders arrangement or tie it front to back. Both appear to leave out the crucial trick of looping the himo, so that the hakama is pulled up as the himo passes from above to below the belt; everything hangs off a securly tied the belt. In the first diagram, they use some weird suspenders thing so presumably it doesn’t matter. In the second, I don’t know how everything stays up. We also put the hakama on from back to front, with the himo tied below the obi knot. This works well, as the hakama hasn’t come apart, even through the vigorous chaos of sparring and multiples.
