TAE Journal, Edition 11, Hakama in Aikido: What is their origin, meaning and do they serve a purpose? By Adrian Punt
- adrian9973
- Feb 21
- 9 min read
FROM EDITION 11 OF THE TRADITIONAL AIKIDO EUROPE JOURNAL – SPRING 2024
Introduction
Some forms of traditional Japanese martial arts, particularly weapons related ones, for example, Kuydo (archery); Iaido (the art of rapidly drawing the sword) and Ken Jutsu (combative swordsmanship and the associated modern-day sports version of Kendo), wear the hakama from day one. In both, pre-WWII, and potentially just over a decade after, O-Sensei was adamant that all students of Aikido, irrespective of grade, wear hakama. At that time, the hakama had nothing to do with dan ranking, it was simply just part of the expected training attire.
For O-Sensei, the hakama was an essential component of the ‘keikogi’ (‘keiko’ being training and ‘gi’ meaning cloths, i.e., keikogi = ‘training cloths’), or perhaps more specifically, an essential part of the ‘dogi’ (literally, ‘cloths of the way’). Mitsugi Saotome Sensei (a postwar Aikido student in Tokyo from 1955) notes in his 1989 "The Principles of Aikido" book [1] that:
“When I was uchi deshi to O-Sensei, everyone was required to wear a hakama for practice, beginning with the first time they stepped on the mat. There were no restrictions on the type of hakama you could wear then, so the dojo was a very colourful place. One saw hakama of all sorts, all colours, and all qualities, from kendo hakama, to the striped hakama used in Japanese dance, to the costly silk hakama called sendai-hira.”
He then goes on to state:
I vividly remember the day that I forgot my hakama. I was preparing to step on the mat for practice, wearing only my dogi, when O-Sensei stopped me. "Where is your hakama?" he demanded sternly. "What makes you think you can receive your teacher's instruction wearing nothing but your underwear? Have you no sense of propriety? You are obviously lacking the attitude and the etiquette necessary in one who pursues Budo training. Go sit on the side and watch class!"
The www.aikidofaq.com [2] reports Morihiro Saito Sensei as saying that most of the students in Iwama were too poor to buy a hakama, but they were still required to wear one. Hence, if they couldn’t get one from an older relative, they would take the cover off an old futon, cut it, dye it, and give it to a seamstress to make into a hakama.
Shigenobu Okumura Sensei (briefly a prewar student of O-Sensei and senior instructor in the Aikikai Hombu Dojo after the war) notes in "Aikido Today Magazine" #41 [3] that in postwar Japan, many things were hard to get, including cloth. He talks about generally unsuccessful attempts to make hakama from air-raid blackout curtains, and subsequently, as a temporary Hombu Dojo policy to avoid expense (presumably instigated by Kisshomaru Ueshiba), the suggestion that it was okay not to wear hakama until shodan (for men and 3rd kyu for women, where ‘modesty’ is the commonly quote reason for why women might wear the hakama from an earlier grade). This change was most likely made in the mid to late 1950s as the number of students in the Hombu Dojo in Tokyo increased.
This approach of not having to wear hakama until a certain grade spread to Iwama at some point and ultimately became the norm across the Aikido world. Today, the ‘award’ of hakama and its wearing, is a symbol of seniority, and as a garment, it is seen as something separate to the white training uniform we call our ‘gi’, a westernised concept of a Japanese word that just means cloths. This approach is quite different to that which O-Sensei initially insisted on.
Some Aikido clubs / associations may favour the wearing of a hakama from day one, but this is quite rare, and it is more normally worn from 3rd or 1st kyu or shodan depending upon club / association guidelines.
It is also important to note that there are some Aikido practitioners that do not wear a hakama at all or may restrict the wearing of a hakama to special events and demonstrations, or higher dan ranks. Equally, if training weapons outside, the hakama is often removed, simply to keep it clean and to reduce the need to wash and subsequently ensure that the folds and creases of the garment are back in the right place.
Origin of the Hakama
As noted, the hakama for O-Sensei, who was born in 1883, clearly had a deep connection with Japan’s past; it was an integral and essential part of the ‘training uniform’, an item of clothing linking Aikido to the history and tradition of Japan. Hakama, especially those used in Japanese martial arts, traditionally have seven deep pleats, two on the back and five on the front. Saotome Sensei [1] after his scolding mentioned above, goes on to describe the lecture he then received from O-Sensei:
“They [the pleats of the hakama] symbolize the seven virtues of Budo", O Sensei said. "These are jin (benevolence), gi (honor or justice), rei (courtesy and etiquette), chi (wisdom, intelligence), shin (sincerity), chu (loyalty), and koh (piety). We find these qualities in the distinguished samurai of the past. The hakama prompts us to reflect on the nature of true bushido. Wearing it symbolizes traditions that have been passed down to us from generation to generation. Aikido is born of the bushido spirit of Japan, and in our practice we must strive to polish the seven traditional virtues".
These values probably permeated Japanese warrior societies as a byproduct of the introduction of Chinese Confucianism and were further popularised by the famous Japanese swordsman Musashi Miyamoto (1584-1645) in his Book of Five Rings (Go Rin No Sho).
Although the adoption of the Chinese Confucian values by the Japanese warrior class is well documented, the precise point at which the seven pleats of the hakama were ascribed these values is unclear and may actually be a modern day ‘romantic’ adoption, and the link to samurai beliefs may be somewhat tenuous [4].
The Aikido Journal [5] notes that hakama are traditional Japanese over trousers, originally worn over a kimono by members of the higher classes of society. The hakama most likely originated in China, as kù or kuzi, the trousers worn by members of the Chinese imperial court in the Sui and Tang dynasties (from ca. 600) [6]. They were most likely imported to Japan within Buddhism as a formal ceremonial garment. The first use of the hakama in Japan is most likely in the Heian period (794–1185), when women of the imperial court used to wear hakama-like garments. However, it’s during the Kamakura period (1185–1333) that the Japanese warrior class began to wear hakama commonly, mostly as heavy cloth leg protection during horseback riding (leather was hard to come by in Japan, so heavy cloth was used instead). After the Samurai as a class dismounted, and became more like foot-soldiers, they persisted in wearing horseman's garb because it set them apart and made them easily identifiable. The hakama then became a symbol of power as the standard outfit for nobles and Samurai. Various forms appeared and the use of hakama eventually became widespread throughout the Japanese population [7].
There were many types of hakama. The andon-bakama type features the traditional "lantern" shape (or skirt-like cut), which was probably the original garment adopted into Japanese use. The umanoribakama type, literally meaning "ride a horse", is cut in the shape of trousers (and probably represents a subsequent evolution of the style and cut to allow horseback riding). Some types were very wide or very long, e.g., the naga-bakama type, specifically designed to severely hamper movement of visiting Samurai when in audience with the Shogun. There were also short or narrow versions, with only five pleats, such as the “mountain” or “field hakama” (nobakama), originally worn by farmers and workers (due to the practical advantage conferred by its narrower legs section) that are popular with practitioners of Kashima Shin Ryu [8] and as worn occasionally by Morihiro Saito Sensei in Iwama and as popularised by his son, Hitohira Saito Sensei.
With the Meiji era (1868–1912), the first half of the ‘Empire of Japan’, Japan moved from being an isolated feudal society, to the new paradigm of a modern, industrialised nation state influenced by Western scientific, technological, philosophical, political, legal, and aesthetic ideas. Wearing of hakama became rare in everyday life until it was only worn as formal attire for special occasions such as graduation, wedding ceremonies and as Shinto religious attire. It however remained the standard outfit used in almost all classical Japanese martial arts and in some modern Budo, such as Aikido [9].
Is there a benefit (or disbenefit) in wearing the hakama?
Firstly, the hakama is not, and was never meant to, hide the feet [7].
For O-Sensei, it seems that it was the wearing of the hakama that was important, not the garment itself. Hence the cut, the fit, probably had little relation to the practice of Aikido. In a social setting in Japan, there are formal ways to wear a hakama and the cut of the garment, where it sits on the body, and how it is tied, differs between men and women. Modern Aikido hakama represent a garment that has evolved to meet the needs of Aikido practitioners, and they may be worn, tied and folded in a variety of ways.
Lewis Bernaldo de Quiros Sensei notes that Morihiro Saito Sensei would, for formal events, wear a hakama tied in a traditional way for a man, i.e., front straps tied first (and hidden under the garment), then the back straps brought to the front and tied in a crossed bow format. However, when in Iwama, he used a different approach, one where the back-straps were tied first and then the longer, front straps, wrapped around the outside of the hakama, creating almost a girdle effect, a ‘country-style’ way of tying, one designed to support and strengthen the waist area. Aside from restricting the wearing of hakama to shodan and above grades, Lewis does not recount Saito Sensei ever giving any instruction or direction with regard to hakama wearing, it was merely just part of the proper training attire expected in Iwama. I asked Lewis how Saito Sensei preferred to fold his hakama when Iwama, the response was “he didn’t, he would get changed at home and probably just hung the garment up”.
So, does (or rather can) the wearing of a hakama offer advantages beyond simply showing respect to tradition? There are certainly disadvantages. Most, if not all, hakama wearers will have tales of trips and falls caused by feet getting caught in the garment, not to mention the rush of getting a hakama off, then back on again, during short training breaks where a trip to the bathroom is required. Purchasing a hakama is an additional financial burden and washing, and subsequently ironing a hakama is not a trivial task. Although the purpose of the hakama is not to hide the feet, instructors will often hitch-up their hakama so that students can more easily see their footwork. For an Aikido beginner in the west, unfamiliar with Japanese history, and trying to learn how to move in a coordinated way, it is hard to imagine any value to wearing a hakama.
Practitioners of Iaido [10] and Kyudo [11] train deep abdominal (hara) breathing and the development of the tanden, the front of the lower body, where the abdominal muscles can be tensed together. Within Traditional Aikido Europe (TAE - https://traditionalaikido.eu/), we explore the physical structure of the human body and of being balanced with a structure that is both centred and ‘full’ and where the weight is below (see TAE Journal, Edition 1: A Commentary on Basic Training - by Lewis Bernaldo de Quiros - https://www.westcumbriaaikido.com/post/a-commentary-on-basic-training-by-lewis-bernaldo-de-quiros). This includes hara development and the use of the hakama to provide feedback on the activation of the hara. As such, within Aikido practice, the recommendation within TAE, for both men and women, is that the hakama should sit below the naval (for men this tends to be on the top of the ‘hip bone’, the iliac crest, and for women this is actually on and around the hips (‘hipster-style’) and not on the waist where it will be too high up and also press on the stomach).
The hakama is not just a symbolic link to the Samurai history of Japan, but is a tool that helps a student, at an appropriate time in their development, to integrate body movements and to use the fit and feel of the hakama as feedback to increase body awareness and subsequent learning. Within TAE clubs, hakama can be worn from 3rd kyu to support the development of whole body coordination / integration and in particular centre work. Prior to this, the student is focused on basic coordination of hands and feet, where the wearing of a hakama would offer no advantage, and possibly a number of disadvantages!
So yes, the wearing of a hakama can have a purpose, a benefit, beyond simple adherence to tradition, but where in TAE, individual clubs decide on whether to wear hakama from 3rd kyu, 1st kyu or shodan.
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References
[1] Mitsugi Saotome (1989). Principles of Aikido.
[2] What is a hakama and who wears it? www.aikidofaq.com
[3] Aikido Today Magazine (1995) Interview with Shigenobu Okumura Sensei, Edition #41
[4] Guillaume Erard (2013). Why do black belts wear the Hakama? (no, it is not meant to hide the feet) ( https://www.guillaumeerard.com/daito-ryuaiki-jujutsu/articles-daito-ryu-aiki-jujutsu/why-doyudansha-wear-hakama/)
[5] Aikido Journal (2019). Hakama 101 ( https://aikidojournal.com/2019/04/30/hakama-101/)
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