How to tie hakama....

[Saionji Shonagon]

ah but when I mention how lovely that guy in the hitatare over there looks I am going to have blue feather looking to recruit me.

Just growl and scratch your beard like Mifune Toshiro instead.

though you would be joining some good company of lovely "males"

(Blush)

[Nagamochi]

Now I remember! I do tie it in reverse to deal with natural functions, when I'm with sake in my tankard!

Otherwise, yeah, like Big Sis said...

*kowtows quickly against computer desk*
Fujiwara no "Hey, I wonder what happens when I do this!?"

[Saionji Shonagon]

Fujiwara no "Hey, I wonder what happens when I do this!?"

Toilet seat locks were invented precisely for children like this one.

S.

[Ishikawa Yoshimasa]

sake by the tankard??? how barbaric... I find that the nanban think it more refined to drink it from small thimb... I meen cups... especialy when I fake a degree of formality in serving them that they believe is second only to chaji<G>

[Nagamochi]

Toilet seat locks? Such a thing exists in this world!?

Ok, who wants to take part in a real seppuku???
Cuz I am so outta here if that's real.

Ja ne
Nagamochi

[Saionji Shonagon]

Toilet seat locks? Such a thing exists in this world!?

Yep. www.netkidswear.com/finpinguar.html

My sister's youngest should've been named Tenzing Houdini Kinzhuber, not Brian Anthony. I couldn't get in or out of the guest room without performing more antics than a safecracker in a heist movie, yet, two year old Bri-Bri managed to bust in at 7AM simply by throwing himself bodily against the selfsame childproofed door. (Brute force! Why hadn't I thought of that?) He also has a fearless ability to scale child gates, high chairs and entertainment centers (hence the Sherpa namesake).

Ok, who wants to take part in a real seppuku???

::)Put down the spork, Little Sister. Childproofing is simply Nature's Way of teaching toddlers manual dexterity and cunning.

S.

[Nagamochi]

Put down the spork, Little Sister.

"But why a spoon, Brother?"
"BECAUSE IT WILL HURT MORE!"

[Please Delete]

nagamochi said:

"BECAUSE IT IS DULL YOU TWIT! IT WILL HURT MORE!"

So why can't I actually remember useful information?

Back on point--the way I have learned to tie hakama is to tie the front first, and tie the himo in back (usually in a bow knot, although square knots are often easy enough to deal with). After that, if you are using martial arts hakama you will usually have a little plastic tab that can be inserted into the back himo and/or obi (this seems to help keep the koshi-ita riding properly). Then, tie the rear himo in front--the knot that is used here can be one of several, from a square knot or simple bow, to the decorative X- or T- knots popular with a lot of martial arts groups.

With period hakama you generally don't have the tab and usually don't have anything resembling a koshi-ita. So I just tie the front panel up first, then tie on the back panel. I find this to be one of the most practical--if you need to use the lavatory, for example, you only have to untie the rear panel, rather than undoing everything.

-Ii

[Saionji Shonagon]

So why can't I actually remember useful information?

Last weekend I found myself singing along to a song I have not heard for more than 20 years and knowing all the lyrics. When I think how much space in my head would be freed up if I'd just let go, the mind boggles and screams! "No. Not my "Bull Durham!" Not my "Monty Python!"

And it's "Why a spoon, cousin?"
"Because it's dull, you twit, it'll hurt more." Which only reminds me that Alan Rickman has been sadly wasted in the Harry Potter movies, particularly #3.

S.

[Ishikawa Yoshimasa]

Not that I am a martial artist of NEARLY the experience of some on this board, infact generaly speaking I have not practiced with any seriousness in so long that I have either forgotten what I knew, or worse realy should forget I once knew anything as to open my mind to learning more readily again. however, here is the method I have learned.

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first put on your kosode (and if wearing kamashimo, kataginu or hitatare), plus obi...

then step into the hakama (making sure it is facing the right direction)... Now pull up the front, taking the cords (ties, I believe Ii called them himo) changing hands bring the ties back to the front again... cross hands again, and pull the ties to the back. tie them in a bow (however, I find it easier to wrap them around themselves untill the tips are secure (usualy somewhere near the hips on my hakama) so longas you are careful not to wrap them into your obi in which case you may end up with a braided belt that will take some time to untie. this also allows them to lay smooth as not to create an uncomfortable buldge in the small of the back.)

now pick up the back ties and bring the ties to the front. tie a small knot (basicly all you are doing here is looping one tie over the other making a basic overhand knot.

take the tie in your right hand and loop in back on itself ad loop that end back under itself (creating a loop that will form a bow tie style bow... then take the tie from the left hand and loop it around the ties and bow from botom to front to top...

when you finsish tick the tie end in the back of the bow, and you end up with a very nice looking bow tie that has drawn me a number of compliments for my appearance despite my newbie-samurai garb (basic black or beige hakama and kataginu, though I am working on making some far better garb over the next year.)

since I am apprenticed to Tsukiko-gozen, and am rather disapointed that my green obi largely vanishes in my kamashimo save for a couple hints of it peaking through the "door knob catchers" on the side of the hakama, I often tie the green obi (which I always use to secure my outermost top layer such as my kataginu or hitatare) I tend to tie the ends into a bow just like the front of the hakama and allow that bow to peak out from above my hakama in the front. permitting just another hint of the green belt to be seen. perhaps it is pride and perhaps it is my own ignorance of japanese dress... more likely it is both<G>

[Inoue Tsukiko]

I still remember once I was dressed in hakama for the first time for kyudo. Standing there. Standing there, and suddenly... "Ahhh sensei, delicate question here."

Hakama crotches are low enough and the legs wide enough that (option one) step over the crotch so both legs are in the same 'pants' leg and hike up the material or (option two) just hike up the material of one 'pants' leg. There really is enough material to the legs in a hakama that you can treat it like a skirt. At least in modern hakama.

It does work nice as the himo don't run the risk of dropping onto the floor or anywhere else.