Monday 25 February 2008

How to fold a hakama 2 - instructions

After the story of my hakama folding here's my folding instruction post. The pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Hakama folding instructions
Hold the hakama and pull the inseam to the right.
Put the hakama down as if you wanted to drag it on the floor. This will help you to start with a reasonably arranged fold set.
Arrange the pleats within less than 45 minutes :). Make them parallel and don't forget that there are pleats you can't see from the picture but you can feel if something's not right when you `stroke' your hakama and find some bumps . (I tried to understand how to fold the hakama from some freely available hakama sewing patterns [1][2] but they didn't really help much, I just learn the proper and nice pleat arrangement gradually.)
Also, arrange the cords (himo) as well, you will finish the whole folding process with tying them.
A closer look with the pleats being nice and parallel.
Fold one of the sides so that this fold is parallel to the other pleats in front and the fold is approximately at the same height as where the cords are attached to the hakama. If your hakama is well ironed and of good quality, simply start folding from the side, the fold will arrange itself :).
Fold the other side as well.
Now start folding from the bottom, fold a bit less than one third of the length of your hakama (because we need to consider the thickness of the fabric when calculating these folds).
Another fold from the bottom.
Last fold here, the top of the last fold should be just above the top of the whole hakama (koshiita).
Enjoy the view of the spider :).
Start folding the longer pair of cords. The number of folds might be different for different hakama, the aim is to arrive at a length that, when the cords are folded on top of the hakama, it should just reach the other end of the folded hakama.
...like this.
Now take the shorter cord and arrange it as shown.
Do the same with the other. Then fold them back to the side and tuck them back from between the crossing long cords.
When it's done with both cords, fold the rest of the cord into half.
The folded end will go beneath the short cord on the other side.
Well done!



ps. I found a good folding guide yesterday.

ps2. The secret of my photos: I folded my hakama nicely in 45 minutes at home and took the photos when I was unfolding it :).

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, it's a good start and very clear... but you still have a way to go if you want to use the true Japanese technique.

Zolley said...

I wonder why everyone is suggesting this "true" technique these days :).
I think I first posted this link to one of my aikido humour posts.
Maybe we should also create a true Japanese technique video, for example, about tying the hakama just like others tie their shoes.

Anonymous said...

I congratulate, this remarkable idea is necessary just by the way