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Kendoka in uniform in jodan no kamae

The hakama was part of the formal wear of Japanese warriors. By wearing it, Kendo students underscore the link their training creates between the present and the long tradition of the martial arts in Japan. The hakama has seven pleats in it, and each pleat is said to stand for one of the Confucian virtues a warrior was to possess: jin or benevolence, gi or honor, rei or courtesy, chi or wisdom, shin or sincerity, chu or loyalty, and koh or piety. It is knotted in the front and, as with many martial arts, this knot is placed near the hara, the physical center of balance in the human body as well as the reputed center for the generation of ki, a type of physical/psychic energy.

The hakama is a bit more complex to wear than the pants of a gi. In the first place, there is a right way and wrong way to put one on. You should always put your left leg in first when donning a hakama. When taking it off, you should remove your right leg first. Novice swordsmen who tend to think that this is taking an attention to detail a little too far should know that it is not uncommon during tournaments where students are seeking promotion to have judges observe them dressing in order to check on this aspect of the management of the hakama.