By David Aguero

I have been washing my hakama for years using this method, it works great. New hakama with excess dye will naturally be washed off your hakama so don't be to concerned about how much dye is coloring the water, and removing or keeping the excess dye on the fabric of your new hakama, (more info).

Materials Needed: Soap (Woolite for Dark Clothes or Ivory Liquid Soap), Two clothes hangers, for hanging hakama and keikogi (heavy plastic or wood hangers), Clothes pins (7), two metal spring clips, large plastic tub (if you don't want to use a washer)

PLASTIC TUB METHOD
If you don't want to use a washer, place a large plastic tub in a bath tub and fill the plastic tub with cold water, add mild soap such as Woolite for dark clothes or ivory liquid soap, turn your hakama and keiko-gi INSIDE OUT, and emerse the garments in the soapy water and gently agitate or move the garments for about 2 minutes. Dump the cold water from the tub and add clean water gently rinse your hakama and keikogi until the soap is removed. After rinsing, gently wring out only the keikogi and turn both hakama and keikogi RIGHT SIDE OUT, then hang on hangers and let air dry.

WASHER METHOD
1. Turn your hakama and keikogi INSIDE OUT. This prevents excessive rubbing on the outside of the garments.

2. Start your washer cycle with your washer set to cold water wash and cold water rinse, and set for hand wash (slow agitation), and short cycle.

3. Add soap (either Woolite for DARK clothes, or Ivory Liquid Soap)

4. Place your hakama and kendo gi in the washer and wait for the washing cycle to complete.

5. Once the washing cycle is complete, immediately remove your hakama and keiko gi turn RIGHT SIDE OUT and hang them up on hangers to air dry:

Hanging Your Hakama to Dry
Using a wooden hanger or a heavy duty plastic hanger and two spring clips secure the hakama top on the hanger. Use clothes pins on the bottom of your hakama to define the pleats of the hakama (both front and back). Smooth out any wrinkles, and let air dry.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU NEED TO WASH YOUR HAKAMA?
The best way to care for your cotton hakama is to air out both your keikogi and hakama in a well ventilated area after every practice (keeps the smell down significantly) and wash your hakama and keiko-gi about every other month or as needed. I recommend having a spare hakama and keiko gi used for special practice or tournaments, since proper appearance is a very important part of kendo. To avoid excess cost, buy a cotton/polyester blend hakama at a minimal cost to use for everyday practice and a cotton hakama for special practice or tournament use.

Why does so much of the dye in my new hakama come off ?
In the cotton dyeing process the hakama / keikogi is repeatedly soaked in a indigo dye bath the indigo dye molecules penetrate the cotton fibers and effectively are lodged or wedged into the cotton fibers additional soakings deepen the color but also increase the amount of surface dye. Surface dye is loose and not attached to the fibers of the cotton, the loose dye molecules are on the outside of the fabric. The amount of excess dye will depend on where you buy your hakama, and what that manufacturers standards are for excess dye, this is the main reason why the results vary so much when using a treatment of vinegar and salt on indigo dyed cotton fabric (because it has not effect on the dye).

Is there a way to stop the dye from coming off of your hakama?
Currently there is no effective way to set or fix the dye used in the kendo hakama or kendo gi. If there were a fix the manufacturers would sell hakama and other kendo bogu at an extra cost for color that does not rub off, especially the manufacturers of blue jeans. Indigo dye is unlike any other dye because is it does not dissolve in water (without the use of alkaline solutions) nor does it adhere to material with a positive or negative chemical reaction. The dye that is rubbing off your hakama is dye that is loose and on the surface of the material. Ideally the manufacturers would make sure the garment is washed completely, but that won't happen because we like the deep blue look of new hakama.

Dyeing cotton hakama / keiko gi fabric is different from the one used in the acid dyeing process to dye silk, wool or nylon. In dyeing silk. wool or nylon vinegar is used to set the acid dye. In acid dyeing salt is used to encourage the dye to adhere to the fabric along with a heated vinegar solution. Vinegar or salt are not part of the process of dyeing cotton fabric and is of no benefit. Treating your hakama with a vinegar and a mild salt solution will not hurt the dye or the fabric of your hakama/keikogi, and has no effect in stopping the dye from rubbing off.

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Indigo dye is one of the most ancient of dyes used in Japan, originally imported from China about the 5th or 6th century. Indigo dye also called Ai-iro in Japanese is highly resistant to fading. Indigo dyed fabric loses its color (fades) by rubbing or washing off, sunlight does not effect its color. Amazingly, indigo dyed fabrics have been recovered from ancient archaeological sites in Japan that still retain their indigo color. In ancient Japan indigo dye was favored for its durability, its ability to hide dirt and as a mosquito repellant (the mosquito repelling properties were probably due to the alkaline solution of animal urine that was used the ancient dyeing process). To create natural indigo dye the leaves of the Japanese Ai-iro plant are crushed and placed in large vats to ferment. The liquid of plant starts off as a yellow liquid then green and as the liquid is oxidized (exposed to air) and with the help of an alkaline solution the liquid turns a dark indigo blue. The hakama or keiko gi is dipped a number of times in a vat of indigo dye until it is sufficiently colored and washed to remove excess dye.

Today synthetic indigo dye is commonly used for most commercial fabric including dying blue jeans, but the process of soaking the cotton material in the dye is the same. Indigo dyed synthetic, wool and other fabric use a different process of dyeing. Hakama dyed with natural dye tends to be very expensive, but has a longer lasting very durable blue.