Tips to washing hakama?

by Jackson Ng
(San Francisco, California, USA)

I wanted to ask if you had any tips to first wash the hakama to further prevent it from bleeding.

I have seen many of the Q&A from this site and I am quite impressed about how you are able to catch up with all these questions. Anyway, I really enjoy having such a resource to refer to if I have any questions since I am going to start kendo in the following July 2012.

Answer: Thank you for your question. I think you want to prevent your hakama from losing its color?

To be honest with you, it is very hard to prevent it from losing its color. Some use vinegar but since I cannot cope with the smell of vinegar, I have never done it.

If you are using cotton hakama and it is dyed, then you should not watch every week. If you want to wash it probably once a month is top. We don’t really wash hakama since it does lose its color.

If you cannot stand that, you should have more than one hakama. And do not buy expensive cotton hakama. Especially you are starting so you do not need an expensive pair of hakama, anyway.

If you train very hard and sweat a lot, you should have one/two pairs of cheap hakama for training and one pair for special occation such as a promotion exams or tournament.

Hope this helps.

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