men's formal divided skirt
袴 centers on a traditional men's garment: a formal divided skirt worn over the lower body.
袴 combines the clothing radical 衤 with 夸, which likely contributes a phonetic element. The character specifically denotes a type of lower-body garment.
The left side 衤 signals clothing, and the right side 夸 looks like a person with wide legs, suggesting a divided skirt. Picture a formal men's garment that splits like wide trousers.
For コ, imagine a man wearing a formal divided skirt at a co-ed event: co -> コ, and the skirt is the traditional 袴.
hakama; pleated skirt or loose-legged trousers worn over a kimono mainly on ceremonial occasions
Futaribakama (noh farce)
hakama for women (esp. hakama worn by female students and teachers in the Meiji period)
work hakama
work hakama that are loose at the top and tight at the bottom
rigid hakama (for women); hakama made from stiff cloth
betrothal money given from woman to man
Oriental swamp pink (Heloniopsis orientalis)
work hakama that are loose at the top and tight at the bottom
Aiaibakama (noh farce)
ceremony of fitting child with a hakama
red hakama (worn by miko or noblewomen at court)
haori coat decorated with one's family crest and hakama (Japanese male formal attire)
the shoemaker's children go barefoot; specialists often fail to apply their skills to themselves; the dyer's white hakama
red hakama (worn by miko or noblewomen at court)
red hakama (worn by miko or noblewomen at court)
haori and hakama (Japanese male formal attire)
thoroughwort (species of boneset, Eupatorium fortunei)
hakama without gussets (worn by female students and later male students in the Meiji period); hakama without gores
traditional Korean pants