Gi colors

[singularity6]

Even though we practice Tae Kwon Do, we wear a Japanese-style uniform. We're supposed to wear white until we hit black belt, but there's at least one student who wears a black uniform.

While our various ranks of black belts are awarded uniforms, there's no strict rule saying they have to wear these.

1st Dahns wear this top with white or black pants:

http://www.martialartsmart.com/11-85wt.html

2nd and 3rd Dahns wear this top with black pants:

http://www.martialartsmart.com/11-85kt.html

4th Dahn and up wear a similar top as second, but the diamonds are red.

[Spartacus Maximus]

Bleached or natural(yellowish-white) cotton dogi. Nothing else allowed for training. Summer is the only exception where wearing the dojo t-shirt is acceptable instead of the jacket.

[sensei8]

This is just me, so forgive me if I should speak with any unclear thoughts, but, I never ever once understood the overall importance of the gi, any gi, it escapes me totally.

I vaguely understand that the gi, or whatever else it might be in the MA styles of the world, is a uniform of our trade. I get that. What I don't get is the strictness of which the gi/uniform is affably honed as a formality, and heads will roll if the gi/uniform protocol isn't adhered to.

Isn't the wearing of a gi/uniform secondary, if not thirdly, if not at the end of the most concerned lists to teaching the MA effectively??

After all, one can train and teach and learn the MA in just about anything that's comfortable and not binding; sweats and a t-shirt come to my mind.

But hey, it's their [CI/Governing Body] house, and we're guests, and IF we want to be in their house, then we had better follow their rules, or we'll face most assuredly summary judgement. I get that, too.

[LLLEARNER]

This is just me, so forgive me if I should speak with any unclear thoughts, but, I never ever once understood the overall importance of the gi, any gi, it escapes me totally.

I vaguely understand that the gi, or whatever else it might be in the MA styles of the world, is a uniform of our trade. I get that. What I don't get is the strictness of which the gi/uniform is affably honed as a formality, and heads will roll if the gi/uniform protocol isn't adhered to.

Isn't the wearing of a gi/uniform secondary, if not thirdly, if not at the end of the most concerned lists to teaching the MA effectively??

After all, one can train and teach and learn the MA in just about anything that's comfortable and not binding; sweats and a t-shirt come to my mind.

But hey, it's their [CI/Governing Body] house, and we're guests, and IF we want to be in their house, then we had better follow their rules, or we'll face most assuredly summary judgement. I get that, too.

I can understand a dojo having a specific uniform. The commercial aspect of it is to stand out as an organization. Cobra kai!! It looks more organized and professional to outsiders for recruitment. Demo teams can immediately be identified and make the dojo look good. MAists ultimately represent their dojo and Sensei.

Also the gi has become ubiquitous in martial arts. I can imagine trying to appeal to potential customers/MAists. if we still wore what people trained in in the really early days.

I have a dress code at work. They provide me with the clothes actually, but I have to maintain them and wear them in a specific way.

In the end, we can train in whatever we want and find comfortable. Gis work better when grappling in involved because the fabric is designed for it.

They also allow Sensei to know if someone is misbehaving at a tournament by making them stick out. For tournaments, they help ensure an even playing field. Judo sleeves are supposed to be certain lengths and widths. The NFL has strict rules about players uniforms and what is allowed on them. It is part of the sport.

[bushido_man96]

In ours, we wear all white.

I've seen some that allow any combination of white/black top/bottoms. Personally, I'd prefer something more uniform if I was running a school, and prefer the all white.

[LLLEARNER]

Shoot, I was one of the very first to show up at the Hombu in a completely blue gi...Soke and Dai-Soke just smiled, shrugged their shoulders, and shook their heads back and forth in dismay. Hehehehehehehehehehehe!! Kind of like the one I'm wearing here...

https://www.karateforums.com/shindokan-and-tkd-get-together-vt41438.html?highlight=tkd+shindokan+meet

Scroll down towards the bottom of that page.

I pictured you with more hair.

[sensei8]

Shoot, I was one of the very first to show up at the Hombu in a completely blue gi...Soke and Dai-Soke just smiled, shrugged their shoulders, and shook their heads back and forth in dismay. Hehehehehehehehehehehe!! Kind of like the one I'm wearing here...

https://www.karateforums.com/shindokan-and-tkd-get-together-vt41438.html?highlight=tkd+shindokan+meet

Scroll down towards the bottom of that page.

I pictured you with more hair.

Lol...I just can't wear my hair long because whenever I try to, my hear curls upward, kind of like Bozo the Clown, really embarrassing. I've really curly hair, which the women in both sides of the family envy me...they can have it. So, I keep it short, like you see in that picture, to keep myself sane.

Same very short hair...still, but with now, I've a full long beard. At least I can grow my hair long somewhere.

[JR 137]

This is just me, so forgive me if I should speak with any unclear thoughts, but, I never ever once understood the overall importance of the gi, any gi, it escapes me totally.

I vaguely understand that the gi, or whatever else it might be in the MA styles of the world, is a uniform of our trade. I get that. What I don't get is the strictness of which the gi/uniform is affably honed as a formality, and heads will roll if the gi/uniform protocol isn't adhered to.

Isn't the wearing of a gi/uniform secondary, if not thirdly, if not at the end of the most concerned lists to teaching the MA effectively??

After all, one can train and teach and learn the MA in just about anything that's comfortable and not binding; sweats and a t-shirt come to my mind.

But hey, it's their [CI/Governing Body] house, and we're guests, and IF we want to be in their house, then we had better follow their rules, or we'll face most assuredly summary judgement. I get that, too.

I completely respect what you’re saying, and I constantly ask myself why it drives me crazy when I see everyone wearing something different. A friend of mine used to train at what they call an American karate school (no idea what makes it American, other than not using Japanese terminology, but that’s another conversation). He said they were allowed to wear whatever gi they wanted, so long as it was a gi and it didn’t have anything outright stupid on it like Girl Scout/Boy Scout merit badges, unaffiliated organization patches, etc. The mentality was as late it as you’re training hard, who cares what you’re wearing. I saw a group photo - one guy had on a solid white top and bottom gi; out of the other 30, I don’t think anyone had anything matching anyone else. So many different colors and combinations of colors. The camo gi, Stars and Stripes gi really stood out to me. Some of those flashy demo-team looking gis, There was a guy who I thought was wearing jeans with a gi top, but they were denim gi pants.

It gave me a headache just looking at it. I know I should think it doesn’t matter, but I just can’t. Everyone wears a white top and bottom gi in our organization. Organization kanji on the left chest, and organization logo on the left sleeve. EVERYONE. Just the way I like it

My former sensei used to do the same. Some time after I left, he started allowing black gi tops. I think it was when he separated kobudo out of the curriculum and made that its own entity of sorts. Kobudo students were allowed black tops during kobudo class, but now anyone can wear a black top whenever they want.

I don’t understand why certain ranks are allowed certain colors or combinations of colors. Doesn’t the belt itself do an adequate job of signifying the rank? A general may wear more medals, stripes, badges, etc., but isn’t the actual uniform still the same?

Again, I know it shouldn’t bother me. In all honesty, what’s it to me? What does what someone’s wearing have to do with my training? When did I become the fashion police? Who am I to tell people what to wear? Who’d ever listen to me anyway? But it still bothers me when I see it, and I can’t control it. I keep my mouth shut, but it’s still in my head. I think I need counseling

[JR 137]

In my incoherent rambling above, I wanted to have one part stand out, so I’ll ask it here in a separate post...

If applicable to you/your school, why are certain ranks allowed to wear different colors and/or combinations of colors? I’m not being condescending when I ask this - doesn’t the belt itself do it’s job of identifying the wearer’s rank?

It’s something I’ve wondered for a while but never asked. Neither my current organization nor former organization do this. Everyone wears the same thing, white belt through founder.

Edit: Possibly a Japanese vs Okinawan thing? The more I think of it, I don’t think I’ve seen Japanese karateka wearing anything but full white gis.

[Spartacus Maximus]

To answer JR137, from personal experience living and training in Okinawa and the Japanese mainland, it is neither a Japanese or Okinawan trend. the overwhelming majority use only white/natural dogi. For kobudo a few dojo use all black or, more rarely brown. Never seen colour combinations top/bottom or trims of any sort.

It could be because wearing a coloured dogi or any special combinations is considered by some to be overly “showy”.