Keikogi

Keikogi (稽古着) is a Japanese Mot meaning “ literally; clothing of entraînement ”; it is composed of keiko (the practice, the drive, the action) and of Gi (clothing, held, together of clothing composing a behavior). One speaks sometimes about dogi , “clothing of practice of the way”.

It indicates the behavior used for the drive with the Budō (martial arts Japanese), which one also wrongly calls Kimono. In Judo, one speaks about judogi , with the Karaté one calls it karategi , and with the Taekwondo one names it Dobok . It is simply called keikogi by the Aïkido kas.

Keikogi of Aikido

It is composed of a Veste and a pants of white cotton, as of a belt, Obi - 帯. Similar seemingly with the judogi , the keikogi of aikido is out of heavy cotton with reasons “ grains of riz ” which allows a good seizure without risk of tearing. The handles are shorter than those of the judogi in order to facilitate the seizures of the wrists. Several teachers also recommend to prefer the keikogi having a dorsal seam across the shoulders with those whose seam runs along the spinal column. However, the kimonos of the mark recommended by the Aikikai present this last type of invoice.

Formerly, the keikogi were out of raw cotton, and thus narrowed considerably with the first washings. That remains still the case of certain models, but in general, the recent models do not narrow much any more. There exist finally two types of colors: bleached or unbleached. Both go, though it is preferable to have a keikogi bleached (either of origin, or by many washings) for the official passages of rank.

The jacket goes left reverse above. The martial reason is that this provision gives access the Tantō sometimes carried in the reverses. The cultural reason is that deaths are equipped with the reverse right above. The handles should not ideally go down beyond half of the front armlever (for the seizures, but also so that the partner is not caught the fingers inside). The pants must arrive to him a few centimetres above the malleolus (not to be visible under the Hakama).

It is of habit to limit the distinctive marks on its keikogi , in particular the various labels carrying the mark of manufacturing, especially when those are particularly open (bent with the shoulders for example). It happens that certain people make embroider their name in Katakana on the handles of their keikogi or carry a escutcheon to the chest. These practices are current in Japan, where it is frequent to leave its keikogi in the Dōjō. To individualize its keikogi is then a need. The port of the escutcheons comes from the university clubs. On the other hand, this type of distinction is rather badly seen in France. It is thus recommended to carry a virgin keikogi for the training courses (except those organized by the current which one carries the escutcheon) or the passages of rank.

See too

Kimono
Obi

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