Folding the Karate/MA Uniform

Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

A question arose about the formalized folding of the karate uniform as it may or may not relate to “Do (Doah) or the Way.” It was postulated from photos and theories that folding the uniform may have more significance other than ritual or etiquette. 

Is it a Japanese Budo thing? Does the folded uniform staged in front of Okinawan masters have some significance? The answer for me comes from a ritualistic model of cultural influences that originate with the Japanese concept of “Shikata.” 

Shikata Articles: 

Kata Origins

Kata and Shikata Connection

Kata - Shido

Sitting and Moving

What I have come to understand about all the etiquettes of karate and martial arts dojo are that they DO NOT come from or are INDICATIVE to those disciplines but are merely adopted from the every day social norms of the culture. It is our perceptions and limited understandings that give us the impressions and perceptions that such things are karate and martial arts oriented etiquettes and we therefore assume that those social practices are an intricate part of the study of karate and martial arts - not so, not true and not reality. 

Since the Japanese developed the shikata concept there is absolutely nothing taught or done that does not have a kata, or format, that drives how it is done. This is a concept that has made products of all kinds the best the world has seen. It was this shikata concept that allowed the Japanese to take products that at one time were considered here as junk and transform them into an artistic and top notch product that has stormed the world of commercialism. 

As you do research you will find effects of shikata even in the way the jacket of the karate uniform, i.e., that is representative of the style of jacket used in kimono, where folding the left side over the right has significance and is socially driven, not martially driven (yep, you can look that one up yourself cause I ain’t given that one here).

Bibliography (Click the link)

p.s. Ritual is an important - ritual. Taking up the socially driven shikata model with all the etiquette often found in the dojo has benefits.