Karate, the Week in Review
I understand why our Gi are white. (Gi are what we wear when we train.) I understand the history. It is still a sucky color. Black would be better for myriad reasons. 1) It wouldn’t show my make up when I wiped the sweat from my face. 2) White makes my butt look big. 3) Black is a cooler color, more stealth and ninja like and 4) We women hate to wear white once a month. ‘Nuff said.
I sweat like a man and if I were at the dojo (the place we train) trolling for a date, I think the fact I sweat like a man would be horribly unappealing to the opposite sex.
Never do legs in the weight room on a Monday or a Wednesday. That night of training is wobbly and feels terrible. Day two after the workout, which is also on a training day, just hurts like hell. Not worth it. At all.
Dedicated and extensively trained black belts (for example, a 4th degree black belt) do not get picked up for a jury, when called for jury duty, when the trial deals with excessive force in personal protection. Questions from the examinee during questioning such as, “Well, what is excessive force? How big is the person? Is he swinging a bat? Is there any weapon involved? Is the attacker on drugs? Do you want to understand controlled force?” will more than likely turn off at least one of the attorneys, probably both, and they will not get called for selection.
posted by Bou | 8:29 PM
4 Comments:
"I sweat like a man and if I were at the dojo (the place we train) trolling for a date, I think the fact I sweat like a man would be horribly unappealing to the opposite sex."
Depends on the man, sweetie. For EVERY female attribute, there's a man who finds it sexy.
Heh, well I did not marry one who finds it sexy. LOL. I take a shower as soon as I get home. I am grungy, sweaty, hair stuck to my head, red faced, gross.
Okay, so why are our Gi's white? Is it a historical thing? I am absolutely positive that a woman did not start that tradition. I'm training at a school now that lets you wear black at purple belt and believe me, I was seriously motivated to get to purple. My white gi's are now buried under the pile at the back of my closet.
Daria
Daria, I am not sure if I read some of this in "Karate-Do, My Way of Life" by Master Gichin Funakoshi or whether it was told to me by my instructor. I will tell you, I have had this discussion with higher ranking black belts. So you get a conglomeration of answers. :)
I have read that during a time, in Okinawa, the practice of Martial Arts was prohibited, so the students would sneak out at night to practice. I have heard that they did so in their pajamas, which were white. I have also read that when Master Funakoshi brought Karate to Japan from Okinawa, he adopted the 'uniform' of Kano Judo. They also have a color belt system.
Upon talking to my Senpai, many have stated that White is the symbol of purity. Perhaps. I know that it is mandatory to train in my dojo in a clean gi, no holes or patches. White is clean and crisp. There is pride to be taken in your gi. Hence, I have spent a lot of money on good heavy canvas gi that wear well and clean nicely. (I tailor them to fit 3/4 length myself.)
I still wish they were black. I understand the sharpness, the purity, and above all 'The Tradition' (because that is what ir's really about!), and my Sensei is very honorable and traditional, which is something I love about him, but I do wish we could go to black! :)
Once you make black belt in our dojo, you get sword training. They have a different uniform for that and it's black pants. But I wouldn't want it for the black pants, but for the sword training. That would be cool.
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