The Judogi
The word gi comes from the Japanese for uniform
, so judogi translates as 'judo uniform' and is the name given to the outfit worn by judo practitioners the world over.When Dr Jigaro Kano founded Judo in 1882, his first students practised in their kimonos; loose fitting garments with jacket flaps that cross the body and are held in place by a sash tied around the waist. In time the judogi was developed, based upon the basic design of a kimono, but much better suited to withstand the rigours of judo training.
The judogi consists of three parts, a heavy uwagi (jacket) a lighter thread shitibaki (trouser) and a cotton obi (belt). Though over time there have been some changes to the design, original judogi were unbleached cotton and possessed shorter sleeves and trouser legs, the outfit worn by judoka the world over today is very similar to that worn by judoka a hundred years ago. The biggest change to gi design has been the introduction of the blue judogi, brought in to make distinguishing one competitor from another easier.
Modern judogi tend to come in two varieties, single weave and double weave. Single weave gi are thinner and lighter. They tend to be favoured by recreational judoka as they are more comfortable to wear and cooler. Double weave gi are heavier and thicker, as a result they are much harder to grip and as such tend to be worn by the more competitive minded judoka.
There are strict regulations governing the size and fit of judogi in competition, enforced to ensure one judoka does not gain an advantage over the other by having a gi that is harder to grip. The regulations for the fit of the jacket are as follows;
The jacket must be long enough to cover the thighs and to reach the fists when the arms arms are fully extended downwards at the side of the body. The jacket must be worn with the left side crossed over the right and should be wide enough to have a minimum overlap of 20cm at the bottom of the rib cage. The sleeves must reach within 5cm of the wrist joint and a space of 10-15cm should exist between the sleeve and the arm, on the entire length of the sleeve.
The regulations governing the gi trousers dictate that the they should reach within 5cm of the ankle joint, and should not extend past it. Also that a space of 10-15cm should exist between the trouser leg and the leg itself along the whole length of the trouser leg.
The judo belt should be 4 to 5cm wide and tied at waist level with a square knot tight enough to prevent the jacket from being too loose and long enough to around the waist twice, with 20-30cm protruding from each side of the knot.
Female contestants are required to wear underneath their gi either a plain white tee-shirt, with short sleeves and long enough to be worn inside the trousers, or a plain white leotard with short sleeves.
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