The traditional Japanese wardrobe consists of seemingly simple garments made of a front panel and back panel, but with additional pleating and structure incorporated into each side. Underneath the many layers that creates traditional dress is the hakama. It fastens at the waist with ties and traditionally extends to the ankles. It is tied over the kimono at the waist to keep all openings and folds in place.
Hakama can be in a divided or undivided. Undivided hakama is similar to a skirt but it has deep pleats and waist ties. The divided form looks similar but is bifurcated. The divided hakama was first created to be worn by horsemen to keep their legs from being injured during riding, which is also why a sturdy and stiff fabric is often used in construction, allowing even more protection. Divided hakama are more functional for physical activities such as riding horseback or combat, according to Norio Yamanaka on page 34 of The Book of Kimono.
The undivided hakama in the Nowes Ark Collection are made of slightly stiff, dark fabric with a 20 inch waist (13 inches in the front panel and 17 inches in the back panel), 34 1/2 inch center front length, and 37 1/2 center back length. On the front of these pants, as seen below in Figure 1, the traditional knife pleating can be easily seen. The knife pleats, from side seam to center front measure four inches, three and a half inches, and then three inches at the center pleat. Some sources attribute meaning to each pleat. The back of the hakama, as seen in the Figure 2, contains the two knife pleats along with the stiff back panel known as the koshita which supplies support for the lower back, as can be seen in Figure 4 below. The white plastic tab (koshiita hera), visible in Figure 2 below is tucked into an obi to help secure all the elements together.
Figure 1: Front View |
Figure 2: Back View |
 |
 |
The pleats for the back panel are much easier to see and understand when viewing the inside of the back of the pants. The knife pleats are much more visible from this view point and the depth of the pleats can be observed, as seen in Figure 3 below (see images below).
Figure 1: Back Detail |
 |
Both the front and back waists have ties attached which are used as closures around the wearer’s waist, as seen in Figures 1 and 2 above. The front ties, measuring 138 inches total on this hakama, are much longer than the back ties which are only 59 inches long, not including the back plate. The ties enable multiple size people to wear the garment and tie them at a comfortable placement and tightness for their individual waist. The key factor that distinguishes this hakama from divided hakama is its lack of division between the legs. The pleating gives the structure, but no seams are present between legs, enabling lots of movement.
Figure 4: Koshita |
 |
According to the web site InnovateUs "The undivided hakamas are known as the andon hakama literally meaning lantern hakama. The forest or field workers wore this kind of mountain hakama having a narrow leg and tied loosely at the waist." Other versions were also developed, including ones to prevent hiding weapons.
Hakama eventually came to be worn in everyday life by men, and as time passed and Western cultural influences spread women began wearing them as well. According to Liza Dalby on page 223 of Kimono: Fashioning Culture, “Women adopted the skirt like masculine lower garment called a hakama to correspond to their new roles as students, workers, and teachers.”
By the end of the Edo Era, the hakama was worn less and less often, until it was only used for special occasions and martial arts practices. Liza Dalby comments on page 227 of Kimono: Fashioning Culture that “Dropping hakama did create a problem, however. The strings at the waist of the hakama held a woman’s robes together. Without hakama, women had to find a means to keep their kosode closed in front. An obi, or sash, was the solution.”
Today, hakamas are mainly worn to occasions such as funerals, tea ceremonies, weddings, and other similar traditional occasions. They are also worn by those practicing martial arts such as kendo, iaido, karate, kyudo, and ryu-te. Hakama are both functional and beautiful, and their construction created a structured garment while also allowing for a wide range of movement.
© Christine Barringer, Class of 2016
Drama 475.001, Spring 2016 Semester
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill