Don't Regret the Sweat

Okinawa, the birthplace of karate, is very hot and humid. Those of us from cooler and drier regions of the globe need a couple of days to acclimate to the tropical zone where Okinawa is located. Obvious advice ranges from keep well hydrated; don't over-exert yourself while training; and don't forget to bring plenty of teri cloth hand towels. Believe me...you'll need more than one.

One under-discussed topic that karate training groups visiting Okinawa forget to bring up in committee is laundry. Cotton is notorious for absorbing water and not letting it wick away and dry. We've learned this fact from survival/adventure TV shows. In cold weather, wet clothing can lead to hypothermia. In humid climes, wet clothing can promote fungus...fungus of the kind that will make you itch in publicly inappropriate areas of the body. So, we are blessed with a number of manufacturers that now make high tech fabrics that breath like skin. Tropical grade underwear can either come in a loose mesh or fine weave. Some t-shirts, shorts, and trousers are also made from this same material. The benefit: After washing, hang them up and they'll dry overnight.

This is great for the clothes we'll wear to and from the dojo, or out-and-about the town sightseeing and gift shopping. Unfortunately, our traditional keikogi (practice uniform, aka "gi") is made from 100% cotton. Within ten minutes of even a light warm-up drill, us non-tropical Westerners are usually soaking wet. How does one deal with this situation? If you're visiting Okinawa for martial arts training, the obvious rule is bring more than one gi. As a general rule, two sets of gi is the minimum; three sets of gi is advisable. Why? Access to laundry facilities is very limited. Some hotels only have two sets of washers and dryers for the whole building. One can easily find himself being up at 1 AM to 2 AM feeding coins into laundry machines because serveral families or other group(s) of martial artists have monopolized the facilities since 9 PM.


Here, in my cramped hotel room in Naha, I've strung parachute cord from the door hinge to the HDTV (nice!) to air dry my keikogi overnight. One jacket hangs from the bathroom door. The other is already dry on the bed. I had to do this even though all my gi spent one hour in the hotel's electric dryer after being washed and spun.

Despite the disturbance to my sleep cycle, doing laundry, staying dry, and feeling fresh(?) wasn't that much trouble during my most recent visit to Okinawa. I had gone for training there two years ago and had learned some valuable survival lessons that I applied this year.