 The Art of One Dojo is funded in part by Patreon. Help keep the channel running and gain access to exclusive content, including behind-the-scenes looks, training tips, outtakes, throwback videos, e-books, free video workshops, store discounts, episode early access, and more. Join the dojo today! Wardrobe choices in the martial arts come in many styles and flavors. Historically speaking, most people trained in regular civilian clothing or perhaps even robes, in more modern times, a variety of arts have adopted more standardized uniforms. In many cases, the styles and choices of uniforms play a specific role in that art. Either for function or fashion, today we're going to look at a few different types of uniforms. I've loved martial arts ever since I was wee little boy, but back then, I was part of the majority of the public who couldn't tell you the difference between karate, taekwondo, hapkido, jiu-jitsu, let alone the different styles within them. Now back in the 80s, it was all just karate, and what I knew, I knew from TV. As a kid, I just assumed that all karate gays were standard across all martial arts and probably went back hundreds of years. I remember wearing white bathrobes and tying them together with any colored uniform or colored fabric that I could find and pretending to do karate, but as a kid, to me, a ghee was just a ghee, and if you did martial arts, then you just wore one, and it was that simple. It wasn't until my early teens when I started to actually learn the arts when I realized how wrong I was, and as I got older and deeper into my training, I realized just how many varieties there were, so today I thought it would be fun to explore so many different types of uniforms. Now this is not a full comprehensive list of all arts, but rather just a starting point of discussion. If you have any suggestions, or if you can tell us about a uniform that I did not cover today, then please, by all means, add it in the comments below. So let's start with the ghee. Not only was my childhood belief that all arts wore the same ghee incorrect, but so was the assumption that it had been around since ancient times. Now you can come across many different official names for this one, one of them being the Kekogi, basically translating to practice dress or practice clothes. The Kekogi was actually standardized by a judo founder, Jigoro Kano, and we talked about him briefly in a previous episode, How Many Belts Are in Karate, because Kano was also instrumental in establishing the belt ranking system seen in the Japanese arts today. Now the Kekogi, or dogi, is usually just shortens to just ghee. Introduced at the beginning of the 20th century, Kano established the judo-gi to be used in judo, and that became the first of the modern martial arts training uniforms. The judo-gi was generally made from a heavy, unbleached cotton or cotton blend with a pants-to-light or canvas material. Now the ghee jacket overlaps and is held together by the obi or belt. The judo-gi is also often made with tear-resistant stitching since it will endure a lot of grabbing, tugging, and throwing. The pants will often see some extra fabric layers in the knees to prevent holes from grappling and groundwork. Today you can find all sorts of different varieties, weights, and colors of the judo-gi. The standard now is bleached white, which is traditional with most Japanese arts that use a ghee. In competition, you'll often also find both blue and white uniforms, you know, distinguished between the two contenders. Now the popularity of the judo-gi spread and it wasn't long until other arts began to adopt it as well. Gijin Funakoshi, the founder of Shodokan and the man who brought karate to Japan, liked the uniform and he decided to standardize it to his teachings as well. Minor modifications were made to the ghee over time for karate such as a lighter canvas material and adding strings to the inside of the jacket to hold it closed and keeping it sharp and neat looking. Now karate keys are often looser fitting to promote more speed and freedom of movement in striking and kicking. Now one of my favorite things about the ghee, the karate ghee, is that crisp sound they make when performing a well-executed kick or strike. There is just something so satisfying about throwing a punch in here in that snap. The judo-gi typically doesn't make that sound, but then again this goes to highlight the difference in applications and styles of uniform. One is meant for heavy grabbing and tugging, while the other is meant for striking and faster movements. Now it's not uncommon to interchange between them, especially if you train in one art and you want to try it another, but they will have their limitations. Like for example, anyone who has worn a karate ghee and grappled with it will know that the first thing to tear will be these little strings that hold the uniform close. Now karate keys also come in a myriad of colors and designs. Now it's usually up to the school what colors they want to use. Sometimes uniform color can be used to distinguish teachers from students or advanced ranks from beginners or were specialized for demonstrations and exhibitions. Sometimes styles will adopt their own color trends. Like for example, tongsudo typically has a white style ghee with a black trim. That's pretty you know standard for them. It's kind of their trademark. Some arts require students to wear all white uniforms, but after reaching a certain rank they're allowed to wear black pants. Now Ed Parker's American Kempo karate popularized the use of the black key. Now traditionally students will usually wear white key until reaching the rank of brown belt when they would then wear the black key. It is also not uncommon to see Kempo schools adopting all black uniforms as a standard for everyone. Again it's up to each school. Now when I was training with my first instructor the colors got a little out of control if I'm going to be honest with you guys. Our standard uniform was all black and we could only wear the black uniform until we reached black belt and then we were allowed to wear blue if we wanted to. We even got these nifty black and blue uniforms which were typically a taekwondo pullover style but I'm going to get back to that. But if we were part of the black belt club we got to wear the red top with our black pants you know black belt club and we got our black stripes through our belt. But if we were student teachers in the class and we were assisting and helping teach a class we got black and yellow uniforms. Except if you were a junior and you were teaching class then you got black and white uniforms. But if you're on a demo team we got these snazzy black red and yellow stripe uniforms. Like I said in those days it got a little out of control. My second instructor basically kept us in the black uniform until he opened it up and said let us wear whatever color we wanted. He was more focused on the material and training than cared less about the uniform color. The bottom line to each their own. Judo and Japanese jiu-jitsu geese are pretty similar as they both do similar throws take downs and grappling. However with Brazilian jiu-jitsu there are some modifications mostly notable in the sleeves which are smaller and tighter fitting to you know compare it to the larger baggier sleeves of judo and typically they have a shorter skirt and belt. In Brazilian jiu-jitsu there is more focus on groundwork and the baggy uniform can be used against you when you're grappling. Brazilian jiu-jitsu geese also come in a variety of colors as well but the most common are blue white and sometimes you see black. Now going back to taekwondo they often wear a pullover variation of the uniform. Now this style of uniform is called the dobok and much like how the karate gi was modeled after the formal Japanese dress of a kimono the dobok is modeled after the Korean formal dress of the hanbok. Now doboks are characterized by the v-neck collar versus the open jacket although sometimes you can find the jacket style you use. Now they are generally lighter weight you know thinner material especially since taekwondo places a lot of focus on speed, kicking and aerial moves. They are also very comfortable and easy to work out in. However I do not recommend them at all for any grappling as they are not meant to endure tugging and pulling and they will tear. Now we use dobok style uniforms for a while in my first dojo and as you can see they pretty much all tore at the collar the v-neck the junction just from basic sparring so eventually I just stopped wearing them all together and just went back to the standard karate gi. There are even geese that stand in the middle grounds such as uniform using hapkido. It is light enough weight to promote fluid motion as striking yet it is also stitched to be resilient in some of the grappling work. Then we come to aikido and the aikido gi. The aikido traditionally uses a gi modeled after the judo gi in order to endure the pulling and throwing found in the art yet some schools will use a variation of the karate gi to accommodate the strikes and counters. aikido finds itself in somewhat of a middle ground between the disciplines because it has throws and grapples but not as much as judo or brazilian jujitsu and it has strikes but not to the extent of karate and as a result you will find a varying style of uniforms across different schools but generally they need to allow for fluid and quick motion while also being able to be tear resistant. Many of them will also have reinforced stitching in the collars and thicker parts for the groundwork. Now there doesn't seem to be a single particular standard for the gi although some manufacturers are trying to establish a style that can become customized for aikido featuring shorter sleeves, tighter fitting jacket, a longer skirt so that it stays tucked into the hakama. Now the hakama is a formal piece of clothing in the japanese culture worn over the kimono and it is often found as part of the aikido uniform. It appears as a skirt although in aikido they wear a divided version which resembles baggy pants and it is worn over the gi. The hakama is typically reserved for higher ranking belts or sometimes only by instructors. The hakama is also used in other arts such as kendo, aido and some styles of jujitsu. Now when it comes to the chinese arts there is much less uniformity. Now we touch upon this briefly in what is kung fu and traditional chinese martial arts each art decides what they want to wear. Sometimes they will have standard uniforms, other times they will just wear civilian clothing. With thousands of years of history and styles we don't see the same standardization and dress that we do in the japanese or korean arts. Now with that being said there are elements of uniforms that are shared across multiple arts. Probably most notable and iconic in kung fu or the chinese martial arts is the tang juang or the formal chinese jacket. It is commonly made out of silk, featured straight collar and often has frog buttons and you will see many styles of kung fu utilizes in their uniforms. Other chinese arts such as the wrestling art of shuai jiao will sometimes use a specialized jacket to stand up to consistent pulling and throwing. It is much shorter and smaller than the dou gi, sports short sleeves, no skirt and has a cotton tear resistant weave very similar to the judo gi. Now if we venture out a little bit more we can still find some more variations of the gi, such as the sambovka or jacket of russian grappling the art of sambo. Sambo is extremely popular as a competitive combat sport and the standard uniform is the gi jacket similar to the judo gi with some minor differences particularly in cut and length. The material is typically canvas or another heavy material as it will be taken a lot of abuse. The jackets are either red or blue and the competitor wears matching wrestling shorts and shoes. Now in the vietnamese martial arts such as vova nam you will often find a gi that is extremely similar to the karate gi. The standout feature is really the color. Now while some vietnamese arts will use you know different colors of uniform the most common one is indigo which to this day has become the distinguishing feature in their uniforms. So these were some broad looks and examples of how a very similar concept can vary across different cultures. Now what I personally found very interesting is that in many cases the style of uniform using the martial art often reflects stylistic attributes of that culture's formal wear. Take an inspiration from formal dress and adapting it to the nature and requirements of the arts and you end up with a wide array of flavors based on the same basic design. In the description below I have also listed some links to some uniform options if you have any interest in purchasing a uniform then that might be a good place to start looking. Now when it comes to etiquette when you join a school you will likely need to adopt whatever uniform they use. Now if you are like many of our viewers and you have mixed backgrounds or experience in multiple arts then you will likely have different uniforms. But when you're trying a new art or your training is against another school it is best to consult with the instructor and that school owner on how they want you to dress. Sometimes they don't mind you that you wear your old uniform to class especially if it's a trial but just keep in mind the certain limitations like we mentioned before you may or may not want to wear a lightweight dobok if you're going to do grappling. Most of the time if you're trying out a school to see if you like it you'll often be able to wear your old uniform but if you do decide to stick with it then good etiquette says go ahead and get the appropriate uniform of that style and that school. So that was just a look at a few different types of uniforms. I'm really curious to hear from many of our viewers who might wear something different or if you want to contribute information about some other uniforms that arts might wear. Thank you so much for watching please like subscribe comment and we'll see you on the map.