The hakama is a split skirt worn by practitioners of several martial art styles (particularly the Japanese martial arts) including aikido, karate, and kendo. Normally made out of 100% cotton or a blend of rayon, nylon, and polyester, the hakama is an essential part of a practitioner’s uniform, for both females and males. It was a common item of clothing worn by samurai in the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

The hakama is worn over the bottoms of the uniform and tied with a knot near the lower stomach.

Placement of the Knot

The placement of the knot is symbolic, as it represents the area of the life energy source “ki” (also known as “chi” in Chinese)

Another part of the hakama which has symbolism is its pleats. It is typical for traditional hakama to feature seven pleats, of which 5 are located in the front and 2 located in the back. However, many hakama feature only 5 pleats, therefore it depends on the practitioner and their martial art style. In either case, the pleats should be completely straight.

Each represent a virtue of a warrior or a complete human being. However, the exact virtue designated for each pleat is open to interpretation.

A Typical Interpretation

The seven pleats may represent the following:

humanity or compassion (in Japanese: Jin)
honor or justice (in Japanese: Gi)
courtesy and etiquette (in Japanese: Rei)
wisdom or intellligence (in Japanese: Chi)
sincerity (in Japanese: Shin)
loyalty (in Japanese: Chuu)
piety (in Japanese: Koh)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 5th, 2006 at 5:54 pm and is filed under Japanese Martial Arts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.