| Instructional video: How to fold a hakama step by step on the tatami for Aikido practice. Hakama (袴) is a traditional Japanese garment originally worn over a kimono by men of the higher classes of society. Scholars argue that the origins of the hakama go back as early as the Heian era (794-1185), when women in the imperial court used to wear culottes as base layer of their kimono that were tied in a way very similar to that of today's hakama. By the start of the Kamakura period (1185-1332), men on horseback belonging to the warrior class were commonly wearing hakama. From then on, the hakama propagated within the higher classes of society, harboring various shapes, styles, colors, and fabrics. Later, the wearing of the Hakama then diffused to lower classes of the military such as foot soldiers, as well as to the general population, including scholars, and even merchants. As Japan became more and more westernized, the wearing of Hakama became relegated to only form
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