On to the class.the Sensei asked what rank he was and he said 3rd Kyu. After I introduced myself, welcomed him and as we started talking.he said he'd been studying the art for 2 years.(hmmm.2 yrs and already a black belt.I wondered to myself) We had a visitor attending our dojo this evening, and when we were in getting dressed prior to the class he wore a Hakama. I have a question about the wearing of a Hakama. Your the guest, are you there to participate or is it an ego game of sorts? (This is just a comment in general, not pointing at anyone in particular.) So again, its all with the attitude and mindset when you go into the dojo. I would not just want to be presumptuous and break the harmony of the dojo.Īnd if I were to keep training there, obviously I would be expected to adopt their ways. Im sure once I get my green belt (3rd kyu) I will pick me up a hakama and adopt wearing the white belt underneath.īefore visiting a dojo to practice with them, I would probably ask them (if they were hakama wearing, and I did not have one) if that would be fine with them. "To Hakama, or not to Hakama.this is the question, etc." (Emphasis is on the person with that level of 'zeal' as you seemed to described.) The point, to clarify, would be that if a person is under so much conviction of a given 'mandate' within an organization, then it sounds unlikely they would just wonder into a dojo they are unfamiliar with.as well as not affiliated with. It could be conceived as arrogant for someone to hop across organizations, enter a dojo, and take the stance the way it was detailed as above.Īgain, Im sure you did not mean it to come across that way. "Coming from the top" and "mandate" is a matter of perspective in the situation that you describe above. and in the new direction toward those who will train with us today.but if an ASU member visits your dojo, do not be surprised when they wear a hakama, since the mandate is so clear and comes from the top. Though for non-monks reciting this vow may be too much to ask, it may be a nice practice to don the hakama & kimono with a similar attitude, to help us step on this path facing an old direction of gratitude to those who came before. When I put on Hakama and/or Kimono to do budo I say this same vow. It places us in a relationship between ourselves and others with awareness of the clothes between us remember between us does not separate us, but joins us. This kind of vow is humbling and sets ourselves in a process of gratitude for the practice and the teaching. Kodo shoshu jo is 'to save living beings widely (or everywhere)'. Hibi Nyorai kyo is 'devoutly wearing the teaching of the Nyorai' (Nyorai is another name for a Buddha) Muso fukuden-e is 'formless robes of happiness'. As monks we also recite a vow, the 'Takkesa no ge' or Robe Chant.ĭaisai gedatsu fuku is 'how great are the clothes of liberation'. When I first wore buddhist robes I was told it takes awareness to learn 'how to live within the robes' (this phrase has many layers of meanings some of which I am just coming to appreciate). Some of us, however, once the technique of putting on the clothes is learned sufficiently we stop giving it much attention, and chatter away in the locker-room giving little care to our dress or, on the other extreme, become so obsessed with a precise technique we forget to enjoy the feeling of learning fresh how these wondrous clothes might fit today. In martial arts circles where a hakama is worn we might say hakama sabaki for learning to put on, and train in, a hakama is certainly an art form. Kimono sabaki is the art of wearings a kimono.
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