the importance of uniforms

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Kung Fu Forum
21

I’m inspired

Daniel: “You’re the best friend I ever had.”
Miyagi: “Oy, you pretty okay too!”

Kreese- “This is a Karate Dojo, not a knitting class…You don’t drop a challenge and leave old man.”

Daniel- “This school sucks, man.”

Kreese- Mercy is for the week. We do not train to be merciful here. A man confronts you on the street, he is your enemy. Enemies deserve no mercy. What is the problem Mr. Laurence?

Mr. Miyagi- No such thing bad student. Only bad teacher.

Mr Miyagi-concenrate, focus power, make good fight.

Miyagi: Now use head for something other than target

Miyagi:Man walk on road. Walk left side, safe. Walk right side, safe. Walk down middle, sooner or later, get squished.
Same here. You karate do “yes,” or karate do “no.” You karate do “guess so,” [makes squish gesture] just like grape.

Miyagi: Karate come from China, sixteenth century, called te, “hand.” Hundred year later, Miyagi ancestor bring to Okinawa, call kara-te, “empty hand.” Daniel Larusso: I thought it came from Buddhist temples and stuff like that. Miyagi: You too much TV.

Sorry, back to the point…:smiley:

22

Where I train the uniform consists of a T shirt, choice of pants is down to you (though some kind is required, sorry water dragon). The only designation on the t shirt is the colour, white for students, black with white logo for senior students, black with red logo for instructor grades. As we can train at any clubs in thr organisation it helps give you an idea of whos at what level, if we had the full silk thing I think I would probably feel a pratt

Just my 2 cents

23

I’m getting ‘Kung Fu’ overall this summer :smiley: For the China trip that is..

24

I’d just like to state that, even though I am not into uniforms much, aikido uniforms are awesome, even if some practitioners seem to believe that all attackers are amazingly unbalanced.

Aikido teaches you defend yourself against lunatics, as only a lunatic would attack that way.

Just kidding. I like aikido, its just some schools are kind of funky, just like every martial art, except that indian one, and ninjutsu.:smiley:

I don’t believe ninja should practice in uniform, for the teacher’s sake.

Ninja Teacher: OK, uh…Bob? Use your free hand to trap his weapon.

Ninja Student 1: I’m not Bob. Bob’s in the bathroom.

Ninja Teacher: Uh…who are you?

Ninja Student 2: That’s Carl.

Ninja Student 3: I’M CARL!!!

Ninja Student 2: Sorry.

Ninja Teacher(starting to really flip out): WHO SAID THAT?!!

25

ROFLMAO!!! @ KC!

I got so excited reading your post I almost kicked my mom in the head!

26

Sweet.:smiley:

I tried to look at that site earlier and my company has firewalled it. Bastid fukkers.:mad:

27

Uniforms bring a moderate amount of traditional structure to what should already be a structured learning environment. It is, above all else, a psychological tool used to make the beginning student feel he is part of a larger group of like-minded people. As he progresses in his training, he may opt out of the uniform wearing phase, recognizing that it in itself is valueless to the overall pedagogical aspect of MA training.

28

LOL@KC

if a ninja teacher has a room full of ‘shadow warriors’, does he even know it? or do they blend into their surroundings too much?

surely, there have been similar discussions to this one by various school boards, etc. much of the rationale that’s being provided mirrors that in any learning environment. (budokan’s statements about building a structured learning environment, particularly)

stuart

29

Ninjas totally flip out without their uniforms.

30

Yeah, but when they wear their ninja uniforms they are totally SWEET!! Especially when they whale away on their guitars…

31

Budokan spelt “wail” incorrectly. He is no-longer a “winner”, and so had no chance of getting his head cut-off by a Ninja.

32

Great topic. I have never given uniforms or belt/sash ranks much of a thought. I do know that people egos can be boosted when they are wearing a higher color uniform or belt/sash. However, such people will always be like that regardless.

I think one thing about uniforms and belts and such that has not been mentioned is simply the fact that it’s a tradition. All my classmates wear the uniform and belt, my instructor and his classmates did, as well as their instructor and so on and so forth. It is just a nice tradition that I wish to uphold when I become an instructor one day. I do not think about creating a sense of unity or that uniforms are a marketing strategy or anything like that. To me uniforms are just what we wear when doing martial arts. Always has been, always will be. Simple as that. This goes for ranking system as well. Which leads me to my next point.

If you think you are hot stuff because you got a black belt then you are missing the point, that goes without saying. A true master with his black belt knows that his black belt is a piece of cloth and nothing more. It’s like my instructor told us. We might think that there is something special about that stripe he just stuck on our belt but in reality it is a piece of eletrical tape he bought at the hardware store. Sometimes that needs to be said because we forget that the only reason we wear this stuff is that it’s just a tradition.

33

Nice Freads, Sithu

In my style, the uniform is integral to the training.. well.. not INTEGRAL… but it’s still a Big Deal.

The collar cuffs are there to provide some protection from lateral strikes to the neck, as well as remind students, that this is a Part of the Body that should be protected. The centreline of the jacket (where it buttons) aids us in remembering our centreline for punches and balance. The cuffs have a line a few inches from the bottom, similar to where a monk might wear iron rings, these are for remembering/guaging where our deflections and blocks should be going on our forearms.

The colours simply identify who’s a sifu and who isn’t, there’s another significance, but it escapes me. The pants of course are loose, as is the jacket, to provide (as stated earlier) a full range of motion.

Even the spacing of the buttons outline striking points in our uniform… it’s effectively a road map.

My sigong is not big on materialistic things, but he has put the uniform together with the idea of making learning good kungfu easier, and it works.

Hey, it looks good too. And that’s what counts..:wink:

In my old style, most people practiced in mufti. Pants wouldn’t let them kick right, or they were too long, some of the ladies wore tops that were hard to work out in…

Aargh. In the end, the uniform makes training easy by making clothing one less thing to worry about. It’s functional. On the street you have to move in what you have, but while training, you might as well get the most out of your time there.

Better go… getting… too… SERIOUS…

:smiley:

34

It’s the only time us guys can wear satin and silk PJs in public and not get laughed at. Well those nasty BJJ guys in their kimonos laugh, but they have their own issues to deal with.

35

Niiiice Pee Jays!

So, wanna tell me about your PJs?

I love them, myself. I’ve got my black, white and red satin getup. It feels awesome to train in. The sifus have the same thing, but in full black with gold dragons.

Classy.