Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

What is the clothing that usagi usually wears called? One of my friends said something, but I can remember better if I read it.

The baggy trousers are called hakama. The belt that wraps around the jacket is called obi. I'm not entirely sure about the jacket, but I think it's called gi. I guess that kimono would also be correct, although kimono literally means "something to wear", and is a pretty generic term.

The top knot is called chonmage. The crests that samurai wear on their jackets are called mon, and specifically, familiy crests are called kamon.

The straw rope sandals that Usagi wears are called waraji. Other kinds of foot wear seen in UY are zori (flip-flops), geta (wooden flip-flops) and tabi (toe-divided socks). Some tabi have thicker soles, and they can be worn like boots. Ninja wear tabi, but they weren't the only ones.

If you have any other questios regarding Japanese clothing, feel free to ask.

*puts on geek cap*

Okay for his normal attire I assume Usagi wears a under kimono (the white robe you see the collar peeking out from under the blue robe), and a kimono over that (the blue robe). Though you cannot see it I can assume that there is a very narrow obi (belt) or a datejime (another kind of belt) over the kimono, then we get the hakuma (pants) over that. The hakuma have almost NO sides and tie around the waist with a series of belts and knots that I cannot begin to describe @_@.

Men's kimonos tend to be a bit shorter in length and sleeves that women's kimonos.

I have a whole book on kimono and the names for all the parts, belts and order they go on it, I'll look more of this up when I get home tonight.

Hakama are not quite as difficult to put one as one might think, though I guess, that's after you get to used to doing it a few times....


We wear them for iado class, so I am very familiar with them now.
Basically--I'll keep this on the simplest level I can--you have two sets of ties.
One set on the front, which are very long.
One set on the back, which are shorter.

You tie the front first, by wrapping them behind you, bringing them to front, crossing them, and finishing again behind you, this time tying them off in a knot.
Then you bring up the back part, and wrap the ties in front of you, tying them in a knot and folding and wrapping the ends in such a way as you end up with a neat bow. There's a couple ways to finish that off, for class, we have ours without loose ends.

One could say the same thing about obi bows....not to tough, after about a dozen times of doing them.

I dunnot remember where it is in the Dojo but i remember that Todd made a Usagi drawing with the name of all clothes.

http://www.usagiyojimbo.com/fanartandfi ... odduy2.gif

Fanfan wrote:I dunnot remember where it is in the Dojo but i remember that Todd made a Usagi drawing with the name of all clothes.

I've always wondered how samurai kept their hakama up with just a belt tied around it, let alone keep a pair of swords tight against his body.

Wouldn't the knot loosen all to hell after a day's hike and everything come crashing down to earth?

Just a radom thought.

random thoughts are good, I have them all the time, like just now, I thought "wow, I havent been on the usagi forums for awhile" so I came here, then I realized I had forgotten my password, so after about twenty minutes of hitting my head against my desk, it came to me! and here I am, in all my non-glorious glory, thats right, ALL OF IT! Muahahahaha

you stay classy san diego

estee wrote:I've always wondered how samurai kept their hakama up with just a belt tied around it, let alone keep a pair of swords tight against his body.

Wouldn't the knot loosen all to hell after a day's hike and everything come crashing down to earth?

Just a radom thought.

Actually, it holds well, you only need some practice to get used to it. The first thing you put on is the kimono, then you wrap the obi around your waist and tie it, so the kimono doesn't hang loose. Finally, you put on the hakama, which Leonardo-san explained perfectly how to wear. Notice that the hakama is put after the obi, not the way around, so the obi stays beneath the hakama.

The obi works in two different ways: it holds the kimono up and it works as a cushion between the swords and your waist. Carrying the swords around can be very tiring, and wearing the obi helps a lot. The usual way to carry the sword is placing it beneath the hakama and the top layer of the obi, and above the rest of the obi (usually the obi wraps around you about 3 or 4 times). If you tied the knots tightly, the sword shouldn't move much. Most of the saya (scabbard ) should come out from the waist cut at the left side of your body, and the tsuka (handle) should stick out in front of you, allowing you to pull the sword out of the scabbard easily.

ziritrion wrote:Actually, it holds well, you only need some practice to get used to it. The first thing you put on is the kimono, then you wrap the obi around your waist and tie it, so the kimono doesn't hang loose. Finally, you put on the hakama, which Leonardo-san explained perfectly how to wear. Notice that the hakama is put after the obi, not the way around, so the obi stays beneath the hakama.

The obi works in two different ways: it holds the kimono up and it works as a cushion between the swords and your waist. Carrying the swords around can be very tiring, and wearing the obi helps a lot. The usual way to carry the sword is placing it beneath the hakama and the top layer of the obi, and above the rest of the obi (usually the obi wraps around you about 3 or 4 times). If you tied the knots tightly, the sword shouldn't move much. Most of the saya (scabbard ) should come out from the waist cut at the left side of your body, and the tsuka (handle) should stick out in front of you, allowing you to pull the sword out of the scabbard easily.

You are just too cool, Ziri-dude.

estee wrote:You are just too cool, Ziri-dude.

Of course I am! .



What's this thing? It's huge! Wait, isn't it my own ego growing way too much!?

I concur







My god! its out of control!