Tying the Obi and Kakuobi

[Honza]

Hi,

could you tell me, how to tie the obi correctly. I mean in naginatado or kyudo. Thank you for you responses.

[J. L. Badgley]

For Kyudo, I recommend asking the kyudo thread.

As for naginata, it probably depends on your school. What are you studying? Also, your teacher (or a senior student) would usually be the first one to ask.

That said, I've found the following method to work nicely for my kaku-obi (note, this is not naginata specific):

Fold over the end so it is only half-width for the last 6~8 inches, and hold it at your left hip, with about six inches hanging out.

Wrap the (full-width) obi around three times. It should be covering the points of your hips, and should appear to be one band.

Even out the ends and tighten it up. Fold over the left-over to about half-width, like you did with the other end.

Pull up on the innermost obi level so that you have a loop.

Pass the outer end through this loop and pull on both ends to tighten.

Move the knot around to the center of your back.

Finish it with another hitch so you now have a square knot, essentially, with both ends hanging down (if the ends poke up or out, then you've probably twisted something somewhere).

Now, I don't know how useful that will be, but that's my usual knot--unless I am told to do it differently by my instructor or seniors in the class.


-Joshua B.

[Brian Owens]

I second the opinion about asking other members of your dojo how they do it.

But as food for thought, I use two knots most often; the kainokuchi musubi, and the katabasami musubi. Some people say the kainokuchi doesn't work under a hakama, but I disagree.

Here's a link for how to tie the kainokuchi: http://kimonoo.net/kituke4-0.html

And here's one for katabasami (2 pages): http://kimonoo.net/kata1.html

Some people swear by the ichimonji musubi (3 pages): http://kimonoo.net/obi-h1.html

HTH.