What style???

[MMAfighter]

'm just wondering if some kenpo or karate schools wear those "samurai suits" in stead of a gi, you know the ones with the big pants. If os what styles?

 

[Kenpojujitsu3]

By big samurai pants I think you're talking about hakama pants which are nothing but set of extra pants (often refered to as a skirt) worn over an actual gi. No styles of Kenpo that I am aware of wear that as an official uniform.

 

[MMAfighter]

o ok, because i saw some people who said they were practicing some kenpo had that on and a vest kind of thing over the gi top, so i was just wondering....also because i just watched fist of legend again and finally wondered what they were practicing, the japanese of course.

 

[Kenpojujitsu3]

OK if they had on a vest (resembling a chest plate I'm assuming) and the hakama pants they probably said they study KENDO not KENPO. Kendo is a japanese sword art that most certainly wears the uniform you described.

 

[jujutsu_indonesia]

o ok, because i saw some people who said they were practicing some kenpo had that on and a vest kind of thing over the gi top, so i was just wondering....also because i just watched fist of legend again and finally wondered what they were practicing, the japanese of course.

You said Vest? then you might have seen Nippon Shorinji Kempo people. Their black belts wear some kind of vest and oversized overpants, with some kind of special belt over it. It's called Koromo if I am not mistaken.

Nippon Shorinji Kempo is a composite martial art created by So Doshin in the late 1940s by combining Japanese and Chinese arts.

 

[Eldritch Knight]

There are a lot of JMA that wear hakama and dougi in lieu of gi pants. Aikido, judo, kyudo, and kendo come to mind. If it was kendo or kyudo, though, you'd be 100% sure that it wasn't kempo: the weapons are a dead giveaway.

 

[Grenadier]

Our school (Wado-based) does have the hakama as part of the uniform, but only for instructors and assistant instructors. We generally use them during formal events, such as examinations, etc., although once in a while, one of the instructors may teach a class in one.

I personally don't like them; they seem to drag, and sometimes, it's difficult to see foot position, etc.

 

[Eldritch Knight]

sometimes, it's difficult to see foot position, etc.

That's the idea. In kendo, we don't allow students to wear them until their footwork is solid. When they get in hakama, it really helps out in jigeiko, since their opponent can't see the short feet movements or tensing muscles that'd alert them to an incoming attack.

 

[searcher]

I do occasionally wear hakama in class, but most of the time it is for a lesson that I am teaching. I also wear them in competition from time to time. Most of the time I stay away from them since they don't seem to move well. Maybe it is just me. I do give 1st Kyu and my BB's the option to wear them if they so choose, but I also tell them the issues that I have had with them.

On the movie note, many Hong Kong movies that have the Japanese portrayed in them often use hakama to differeniate the Japanese from the Chinese, so they can still use Chinese actors. Most people in the west cannot tell the difference from one nationality to another.