I know that I said that I won’t be getting any more gis, but my Atama Mundial#7, which I really like, has been getting super dirty while rolling, so I wanted to get another blue gi.
I came across kinjisan.com and called the place. They were very helpful and knowledgeable and recommended the Ronin brand. They gave me a good price on it, so I figured I ll take a shot at it. The Insignia model doesn’t have too many patches, so I liked that. I was a bit skeptical about getting a gi that I didn’t know about or haven’t heard about, but I figured they knew what they were talking about, so I took their word for it.
I ll get straight to the point. It is a A2 top and A2 pants and out of the box it fits very nicely. A3 was too big, almost like my Shoyoroll.
The pants feel lighter than my other pants, very close to the Atama ripstop pants. I think that Ronin used a lighter weight fabric for their pants compared to other gis that I own. Atama is ripstop so it is completely different. Most of the other gi manufacturers use a material that is similar to jeans, this one feels even thinner and therefore lighter. The pants, unwashed, are the same length as my A3 Atamas, so hopefully they will not shrink.
Here is a picture of the Ronin pants, unwashed, (A2) on top of the Atama Mundial #7 (A3).
Even if they do shrink, there is a good 2 inches of hemmed material that I can take out and it would bring them back to normal. I had to do the same to my Keiko A2 pants.
The jacket is a single weave top. It feels fairly light and seems that it would breath well.
The Shoyoroll top is very similar to this one in weight and the collar is pretty much the same on both of them. Shoyoroll’ s collar, batch #4, is wider, but it is as thin and easily “foldable” as the Ronin. I tried to be as objective on this as possible, so I just took all of my kimonos and let my girlfriend manipulate the collar by bending it onto itself and tell me which one was the stiffest/ hardest to fold and which one was the softest/ easiest to fold. Here are her rankings from stiffest to softest: Keiko Limited, Sfjam Noris (judo gi), Atama double weave, Padilla and Sons gold weave (old model), and a tie for Shoyoroll (batch 4) and Ronin. She has no clue about jiu-jitsu so I figured it was a fair comparison.
The cut of this gi is something that I like. It is very similar to my Atama Mundial #7 A2 in size, but with sleeves just long enough for me not to worry about when it comes to regulation. My Atama is cutting it close, really close. The jacket is the same width, maybe ¾-1” wider than my Atama and it closes fairly high on my chest, which I like. This is all unwashed, so I hope that the gi shrinks minimally and it would be a very good, if not perfect fit for me. Ohh, I am 6 feet tall and usually compete at the lightweight level with the gi, which is 167. I weigh around 162. I am usually having problems finding a good fitting gi, because I am skinny and tall, with long arms and legs. If the sleeves shrink even 4 inches, there is a hem which can be let out and would give me 1 ½ inches which would still make it regulation. I don’t think that it will shrink that much.
Ronin A2, unwashed with Atama Mundial #7 on top.
Here is a pic with the Atama side slits lined up. You can see how the shape of the gi is changed.
The reinforcements on the gi are pretty much standard. I would compare them to my Atama Mundial #7. They pretty much mirror the Mundial #7. The only thing that is different is that Ronin has the “Ronin Brand” tape on some of the inside seams, like Isami.
The other nice thing about the gi is that the sleeves are pretty tight. 6.5”. That is the same as my Padilla and Sons which has the tightest sleeves from all of my kimonos.
Here are pics before the wash.
That is a sticker on my right chest, it is attached by a small thread, like Koral does. It is NOT a patch.
I managed to roll in the kimono once. The pants, when sitting down, for example, starting butterfly guard, come up to mid shin on me. When standing it is not a problem and it will clear regulation. I like that the pants ride a bit high while sitting down, because it doesn’t leave much fabric for my opponent to grab.
Although the collar on the top is very pliable, the top stays closed pretty much the whole time. I liked this a lot, because the top stays pretty much close to the body and doesn’t allow my opponent to get a good grip. They can still grab the collar if I am directly in front of them, but bow and arrow chokes are much harder to get. I rolled with one of the guys who uses the bow and arrow choke a lot, and that choke has been a problem for me. With my Shoyoroll kimono, the collar is open so much that there is no problem in grabbing the kimono and getting a nice noose around my neck. With the Ronin, it stays close to my neck, doesn’t flare out, so it is harder to get. I have to mention that Shoyoroll is an A3, huuuuge A3, and this one is a pretty good A2, more geared towards the skinnier type.
Here are some measurements A2 (A3 measurements are in parentheses):
Top:
Length: 30.5 (32)
Collar to Sleeve: 29.75 (30.75)
Sleeve Width: 6.5 (7)
Width: 22.5 (24.5)
Sleeve to Sleeve: 65 .5 (69)
Pants:
Length: 38.5 (39.75)
Width: 22.5 (23.5)
Cuff width: 9.75 (11)
Weight of the gi:
Top: 2.734
Pants: 1.218
Collar width: 1 7/8
Collar thickness: .25
I will post more updates about this kimono the more I use it.
