how long is your hakama

[strangerintokyo]

how long is your hakama ? some people have very short the others prefer rather long . what is your experience ? what is the best way to measure "right lenght" . thx


Frank Perini ;)

[David T Anderson]

Mine is a size 38 from Bujin Design and it's a tad longer than ankle-length. If I order another one it would be a 36 or 37.

A proper length should fall on or about the ankle bone, but shorter is probably better than longer.

[Cody]

Just keep in mind, depending on material, it probably will shrink a little bit after first wash...

Mind you, mine still drags on the floor after numerous wash '_'

[chrismoses]

I stand a smidge under 6' tall and wear a 2-6 (Japanese measurement). Most of mine stop just above the ankle bone. Personally I have no idea where the "floor-sweeper" fasion came from. It looks rather silly to me to be wearing a hakama that drags on the floor. Not to mention that it's dangerous, I've seen some nasty injuries from tripping on ones hakama. Hopefully by now we've exorcised the whole "it hides your footwork!" myth. While a long hakama may indeed obscure ones footwork, they were not designed for that purpose.

[astudent]

mine comes to around my ankle bone. longer and it gets in the way. it's slightly longer then my gi bottoms.

personally i think it's bad fashion to have the bottom of your pants to show below the hakama. i bit too 'Urkel-ish' for me.:cool:

[Shimura]

I prefer my hakama a bit shorter, ankle height, for practical purposes. Any longer and I have a tendency to get my toes caught.

[kage110]

Does anyone know of the traditional length of a hakama? I had heard (possibly an 'urban' myth) that the hakama should come to the floor when you are standing in kamae so that your opponent could not see your feet and would therefore be at a disadvantage when you moved. Any truth in this?

[chrismoses]

I thought my earlier post had been clear enough. Oh well.

It is a myth that the hakama is *supposed* to drag on the floor in order to hide ones footwork. While a hakama that is too long will indeed obscure ones footwork, so would a burlap sack, and the hakama was not *designed* for this purpose. It is not a tactical advantage, it is a dangerous handicap. If it was tactically adventageous to hide ones footwork and risk tripping on ones own clothing, more koryu would wear long hakama. Traditionally one hiked up the hakama by pulling parts of the legs through the straps before training or fighting. It could be pointed out that during one period of Japanese fasion, at court extremely long hakama were worn. This was so that it would be *harder* to attack someone in what was supposed to be a place of safety.

[kage110]

Chris,

it would appear that on reading your first post again that you had indeed answered my question before I had asked it. You are the Master and bow my head three times to your superior wisdom. :nw: :nw: :nw:

[Goes away muttering,] 'I must read threads with more care in future'....

p.s. It wasn't a totally wasted post though as you did add the bit about the extra long hakama. :)