Comments on: haramaki, waist warmer

haramaki, waist warmer

nickyskye — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 01:09:02 -0800

In Japan haramaki were originally worn as part of samurai armor to protect the stomach and kidneys. They have evolved to become a handy winter fashion accessory, which keeps the whole body warm.

They are worn in the West by bikers and snowboarders. In the East they are worn by some guys, a comfort to pregnant women (or for cramps) and byTibetan grannies and grandpas as well. The idea is that if one warms the kidneys, the blood that circulates will be warmed. They come simple, jeweled, in neoprene, lo-tech, in sheepskin, pink stretch satin, DIY or just cheap.

By: chuckdarwin

chuckdarwin — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 01:32:49 -0800

Nope. Still ugly.

By: Phire

Phire — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 01:43:31 -0800

That is actually... cute. *contemplates her own DIY*

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 02:03:08 -0800

They've got a serious thing here in Japan for bellies. A focus on the lower central torso that's, well, deeply ingrained in the culture somehow. And indeed, it does seem to keep one warmer overall, to wear this kind of thing. Never really got into it myself, though. Part of how I maintain cherished "outsider" status!

By: farishta

farishta — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 02:48:26 -0800

Very interesting. Great post.

By: hjo3

hjo3 — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:21:10 -0800

Seems like they'd be rather ghastly looking for the, em, heroically portly amongst us. I'll stick to sleeveless sweaters.

By: luciaisdada

lucia__is__dada — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:51:39 -0800

Does that mean that, in the winter, I can walk around naked (except for the haramaki, that is) in the house without getting my feet cold? Neat. Although I'll believe it when I try it.

By: Kid Charlemagne

Kid Charlemagne — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:01:07 -0800

I applaud this fashion trend, but only because I wand clothing derived from the European transitional armour. Fluted paldrons here I come!

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:12:48 -0800

Does that mean that, in the winter, I can walk around naked (except for the haramaki, that is) in the house without getting my feet cold? Sure! That is, if you have underfloor heating! It's been a standard feature in many Korean homes for a long time, and has caught on in Japan as well.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:19:31 -0800

Seems like they'd be rather ghastly looking for the, em, heroically portly amongst us. Heh heh! Or, as someone else put it, in the comments at the linked site: "Anyway, we Americans don't need this, because we have a lot of fat around the middle to keep us warm :)"

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:55:12 -0800

A perfect accessory to my merkin and codpiece. So now, when I get up in the morning, it's, "Merkin, codpiece, haramaki, legwarmers..." and so on.

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:59:53 -0800

But I'm concerned that it may make my fanny-pack slip. Is there an accessory that holds the fanny-pack to the haramaki? Hiking my fanny-pack up constantly would be embarrassing, not to mention codpiece displacement.

By: DU

DU — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 05:55:22 -0800

Why can't I just wear pink long underwear?

By: Abiezer

Abiezer — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:05:27 -0800

There's a trad Chinese thing called the 肚兜 (dùdōu) or 兜肚 (dōudu) that covers the belly. I've mostly seen kids wearing them but it makes for some sexy women's wear too. I was interested to note how blokes here will roll up their T-shirt to expose the belly when it's hot in summer in the way back home we'd open a shirt at the neck.

By: loiseau

loiseau — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:05:51 -0800

Hmm, I've known these in Canada as "belly bands" but haramaki is a much nicer word. I agree that they are really cute.

By: Mitrovarr

Mitrovarr — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:43:27 -0800

I've never understood the point of cold-weather gear for the torso alone. In what kind of weather does one need to warm one's core, which is for most people the very last thing to get cold, and not their arms as well?

By: Uther Bentrazor

Uther Bentrazor — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:47:30 -0800

Sweet, my portly ass has been waiting for the men's girdle to come back into vogue!

By: Abiezer

Abiezer — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 07:07:44 -0800

Uther - cummerbund!

By: desjardins

desjardins — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 07:19:51 -0800

DO WANT. How long do you think this trend will take to come to the States?

By: kalimac

kalimac — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 07:25:55 -0800

I'm sitting here with a shawl wrapped around my belly. WANT ONE.

By: Green Eyed Monster

Green Eyed Monster — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 07:31:23 -0800

How is this different than wearing an undershirt?

By: junesix

junesix — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 07:45:23 -0800

Green Eyed Monster: From a clothing style perspective, it looks like a way to add a layer of color or pattern that comes out from underneath the primary layer without adding bulk or a full layer of clothing. For women who like wearing short shirts or jackets, it covers the area that would normally be exposed below the shirt and above the skirt/dress/pants. In the West, most people, especially men, don't heavily mix and match colors, patterns, and textures. That's probably why the idea of adding a partial layer that isn't very functional seems so strange. In Japan, it's very common to do that, especially among the younger generation.

By: MNDZ

MNDZ — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 07:47:08 -0800

mitrovarr- I think it's not the kind of weather but the kind of person. For me, putting on a beater under my tshirt makes me alot warmer than wearing sweater. It's not that my chest is cold and my arms aren't, just that insulating my core well traps more heat than insulating the extremities, and the heat that wasn't lost is "sent" to my arms and legs. But if your body doesn't naturally produce some threshold amount of heat then maybe minimizing loss from the extremities, instead of maximizing intake, is the ticket?

By: zeoslap

zeoslap — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 07:48:40 -0800

If you keep your torso warm your extremities don't get cold.

By: zeoslap

zeoslap — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 07:51:50 -0800

To expand, the reason your extremities get cold is that when your core starts getting cold your body restricts blood flow to the extremities in order to keep your major organs warm. So if you keep your core warm your body doesn't need to restrict that flow and the fresh warm blood keeps you warm.

By: tommasz

tommasz — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 08:01:03 -0800

flapjax at midnite, the hara (literally "belly") is "considered the physical center of gravity for the human body and by extension the seat of one's internal energy" which at least partially explains the Japanese fixation with it.

By: bunnytricks

bunnytricks — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 08:05:23 -0800

For some reason, my upper back is always frigid when the temperature is below, like, eighty. It's like the rest of me can feel warm and cozy but somehow an invisible bag of ice cubes always finds its way down the back of my thermals. Previously, the only way I've found to handle the cold is to wrap scarves around my chest like some sort of high riding tube top (moob top?) but they never really manage to stay in place. Maybe one of these put on upside down will be unobtrusive and stable enough to be the answer to all my winter problems. Thanks, hopefully.

By: casarkos

casarkos — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 08:19:23 -0800

Given the recent trend toward women's tops being trapezoidal sacks that billow out over the tummy area, this is a pretty good idea.

By: fuzzypantalones

fuzzypantalones — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 08:23:13 -0800

i'd be interested in it's girdle properties.

By: quin

quin — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:29:07 -0800

Not enough clothing takes it's cues from medieval armors. I think I would get a lot more respect in my office meetings if I were wearing some greaves. And is it just me, or does the neoprene haramaki look suspiciously like a lumbar support?

By: wemayfreeze

wemayfreeze — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:51:10 -0800

Dang, I'm pretty into these. If only I had the flat to pull it off.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:58:07 -0800

Years ago, living in North India around Tibetan refugees, I noticed the old folks (to me then anyone over 40) wore a scarf or shawl wrapped around their waist or a short wool apron turned around in back. I asked what it was and was told by warming their back their whole body would be warm. Since I suffered horrendous menstrual cramps and aching focused mostly in the kidney area, especially in cold weather, I decided to try it. What I did was take a cotton t shirt a size too small for me so it was slightly tight, cut off the top and put the tube on, fold it over, so it warmed my waist. Amazing comfort, especially when sitting in meditation or for a long time. Then, when I became a street vendor in 1986 in NYC and faced standing outside all day in the long, bitter winters here I found by buying a neoprene belt in the cheap link above worked astonishingly well to keep me warm. Having one of those belts on, no need to wear any kind of coat, especially nothing bulky, until below 40 degrees F (4C), providing greater mobility while setting up, selling and breaking down the display. What zeoslap said, warming the core, in particular the kidneys, warms not only the trunk of the body but also the extremities. That would make sense why bikers, snowboarders and anyone else wear them. At home, with the computer next to the drafty window, a lightweight haramaki is very nice. Now I rarely wear anything but a light coat in winter, even near freezing temps, because I use a haramaki under my shirt. They do work wonderfully.

By: clearlydemon

clearlydemon — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:19:39 -0800

I found some for sale at Etsy.

By: Zinger

Zinger — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:33:03 -0800

Oh man, I'd love something like this. I forever feel like my lower back is cold. Where can I buy??

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:14:57 -0800

Dang, I'm pretty into these. If only I had the flat to pull it off. Hey, no problem, you can wear these in any kind of apartment! And by the way, wemayfreeze, this is the perfect post for you to get eponysterical in!

By: wemayfreeze

wemayfreeze — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:27:51 -0800

Ha! I didn't even catch that. Dang. BTW, this is the thread where people start using "flat" to mean the opposite of fat, k?

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:36:12 -0800

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:36:37 -0800

Elemenopee!!

By: Zinger

Zinger — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:38:50 -0800

Belly bands appear to be for when you're pregnant. There are these, however: http://www.e-budostore.com/special.htm and http://www.yogagurl.com/shop/YGA11.htm I've no idea if either one of these shops is reputable, and I have no affiliation, I just googled 'til these came up. However I'm going to try the Budostore. (This post happened to catch me on a day when I felt absolutely frozen all day...)

By: hadjiboy

hadjiboy — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 23:10:47 -0800

Amazing, now I want one too!

By: loiseau

loiseau — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 08:39:32 -0800

Zinger: Belly bands appear to be for when you're pregnant.
Oh, no, I definitely heard them called that maybe 3 (?) or so years ago when layering was first big. They were for layering underneath. I made one, which, now that I think of it, I seem to have lost. casarkos: Given the recent trend toward women's tops being trapezoidal sacks that billow out over the tummy area, this is a pretty good idea.
On behalf of women with non-flat bellies and large breasts, longer and non-clingy shirts are the best thing that's happened in fashion in my lifetime. They're long enough to cover extra chest mileage and don't require pulling away clinging fabric from the less-than-perfect waist. I hope it never goes out of style.

By: loiseau

loiseau — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 10:29:13 -0800

Oh, I wanted to add, I wear these really long American Apparel t-shirt dresses and it serves the same purpose (though not with a pocket!) I've got a bunch of them -- actually I'm wearing a red one right now. They are amaaaaazing in the winter as a bottom layer (keeps butt warm and no cold air gets in under my shirt) and will still be cute in the summer because they're more or less sleeveless. Hint: you can get American Apparel stuff way cheaper on Ebay. I use these guys and they're fantastic, but you can also just search on "american apparel" + the style number.

By: easy_being_green

easy_being_green — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 10:38:52 -0800

What will Japanese fashion come up with next...

By: Zinger

Zinger — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 06:57:24 -0800

Just as a follow up I can confirm the Budostore I linked to above delivers as promised - quickly too! And yes, I am toasty warm now!

By: loiseau

loiseau — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:41:00 -0800

What do they look like, Zinger? In the pictures in the store you can't really tell (or I can't, anyway).

Comments on: haramaki, waist warmer

haramaki, waist warmer

By: chuckdarwin

By: Phire

By: flapjax at midnite

By: farishta

By: hjo3

By: lucia__is__dada

By: Kid Charlemagne

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By: DU

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