Wearing a Karate Gi for Aikido Training

In Australia where we have some pretty hot weather in summer, many of the Tomiki aikido schools wear a Karate gi instead because the canvas is lighter.

Also there is a pair of ties across the chest area, which the traditional Judo gi does not have.

These chest ties help female students to keep their breasts covered, but in any case, they wear a tee-shirt under their do gi to hide their bras.

Women aikidoka (aiki students) buy sports bras with the buckle/clip at the front, between their breasts. This stops their spine getting bruised on their backs by the clasp of a conventional bra.

If you do scores or hundreds of back breakfalls in one class wearing a conventional brassiere, the clip at the back will give you a nice, sore bruise.

Then there is the Hakama, the usually black trouser-skirt, traditional clothing of the Samurai warrior. This is worn by Aikido teachers and instructors in traditional Aikido styles. Some Aikido schools allow all their female students to wear Hakama, even if they are just beginners. This can be confusing for visitors!

The Hakama almost never worn in Tomiki-style Aikido. Its founder, Professor Kenji Tomiki, did not wear a Hakama, even though he was an 8th Dan (a master, teacher-of-teachers) in traditional Aikido, graded by Morihei Uyeshiba himself. Tomiki Sensei was also a Judo man, and Judo people do not wear Hakama. He was a 10th Dan when he died.

The last pieces of Aikido equipment are the Aikido weapons: the jo (short wooden staff), the bokken (wooden sword) and the tanto knife.

Most Aikido schools teach various techniques with these three weapons, however the Tomiki styles use the Tanto knife more often than anything else. We keep the jo and bokken work for our formal Koryo Katas, which are black-belt level.

They use a soft rubber Tanto to prevent training injuries.

It would be all too easy to poke someone's eye out during training with a wooden Tanto. And a heavy rubber knife can bruise you if you're slow at moving out of the way.

It sure beats getting cut or stabbed or sliced, though!

Aikido Exercises