Wearing a Kimono in Kyoto!

One of the things I had been most excited about when I came to Japan, was the fact that at some point, I could wear a kimono.

Kimono are traditional Japanese clothing that’s often worn on special occasions. Many people wear them for coming-of-age ceremonies, graduations, or special performances. However, many people also wear kimono whenever they’d like. I’ve seen many people wear kimono to simple town festivals or just on the daily.

Kimono History

Kimono have been around for an extremely long time, with the first kimono-like clothing being introduced to Japan by the Chinese during the Kofun Period (about 300-538). Later, it’s popular wear in Japan can be tracked back to the Heian Period (which is about 794-1185). During this time, trade between China and Japan lessoned, so the clothing articles developed independently, and the kimono became…well, the kimono.

Jumping ahead hundreds of years, the kimono was popular among both men and women as casual wear. The Meiji Period (1868-1912) saw a rise in the types of kimono featuring many different fabrics and colours. However, with the rise in trade between Japan and “western” countries, people tended to equate “western” clothing with modernity. This type of clothing became more favoured, especially in larger cities, and the use of kimono lessened to home wear.

With the popularity of “western” clothing, the formality of kimono rose after the Meiji Period. These more formal kimono differed in fabric, weight, colour, and pattern. Like all clothing, the kimono was greatly influenced by political and economic trends which resulted in different social classes wearing certain styles to distinguish themselves. Kimono were also heavily affected by the World Wars. The limitations to resources led to kimono only being worn for special occasions, and the lines of formality blurred with economic hardships since most people couldn’t afford the expensive, formal kimono that emerged during the Meiji Period. The price of kimono caused an even bigger increase in “western” attire as not only casual wear, but formal wear, too. During the later part of the Showa Period (1926-1989), around after World War II, kimono were no longer popular among men, but still often worn by women.

Once the World Wars ended and regular production among Japan slowly reappeared, the economy bettered. Kimono once again became more prevalent with varying designs and formalities. The rise of the retail industry also allowed for an easier shopping experience and slightly cheaper prices, and therefore led to a rise in kimono sales.

Kimono have experienced its fair share of trends and changes over the years. People who work in the traditional spheres of Japan wear kimono as everyday wear. The modern ideal of kimono stresses the idea of perfection, straight folds and no creases, due to the clothing’s historical significance. Many people outside of these spheres are unable to dress themselves in kimono properly. This then allowed for the growth in use of yukata, a casual style of kimono often worn during summer, among younger people since it was much lighter and easier to wear.

What Makes Up a Kimono?

There are so many parts to a kimono, so I’ll try my best to explain!

Starting with the main element, the kimono is the colourful and patterned outer piece that you usually think of when you hear the word kimono. It’s a rectangular piece of fabric for the body with two rectangles stitched to the sides for the arms.

Underneath the kimono, you have the nagajuban. This is fabric that wraps around your body like a robe. It’s often plain coloured and made of an easily washable fabric. Its job is to be a barrier between your body and the kimono to avoid getting the kimono dirty. It also helps keep the shape of the kimono. Another piece that comes into play with the nagajuban is the erishin. This is a piece that keeps the collar of the nagajuban lifted to give a neater appearance.

Over the kimono goes the obi. This is the part that wraps around your waist and kind of holds the fabric in place, and frankly, I think it’s the most difficult part about wearing a kimono. An obi is a thick belt that secures the kimono and is usually tied in different styles on your back. Within the obi, there is an obiita and an obimakura. The obiita is a stiff piece that is wrapped within the obi to make sure that there are no wrinkles, giving it a stiff and neat look, much like the erishin for the collar. Then, the obimakura is a pillow-like object that ties around your back to provide support for the knot in the obi and therefore achieve the desired shape. Finally come the obijime and the obiage which are both decorative pieces that wrap around the obi. The obijime is a cord that wraps around the middle of the obi while the obiage is a piece of cloth that is tied closer to the top of the obi and almost falls over it.

Then we get to the feet! First, there are white cotton socks called tabi that have a split between the big toe and the rest of the toes to make it easier to wear traditional footwear. There are many types of footwear depending on what you’re wearing it for, but the more common footwear is known as zori.

The little bag that you'll see many people carry around when in kimono is called a kinchaku. It's a simple drawstring bag used to carry personal belongings. They come in various sizes, but when carried around in this way, they're usually the size of a clutch.

Renting a Kimono

As if I haven’t mentioned it before, I was ridiculously excited to wear a kimono! It was one of the main experiences that I wanted to participate in since being in Japan, so the fact that I could fulfill my wish during my trip to Kyoto had me buzzing the entire morning of our appointment.

I had scheduled kimono rentals for everyone at Kyoto Kimono Rental Waraku, which is a relatively popular kimono rental shop that has multiple locations throughout Japan. In Kyoto, I chose to make reservations at the shop in Gion since that’s where we spent most of our time.

Waraku had multiple types of plans that you could reserve, from student discount to couple plans. With each plan, it was a set price to wear the kimono from whenever your reservation time is until 5:30PM, then there was an extra fee if you were to keep the kimono overnight and return it the next morning. Along with the plans, you could also add on more accessories or somewhat ‘nicer’ accessories for an extra charge.

Once I confirmed with everyone, I booked the “Full Set Hair Set Included” plan for Kasey and I which came to ¥4, 378 (tax included) each. Then I booked the “Men’s Plan” for Matt and Ethan at ¥4, 290 (tax included) each.

I made the reservations through their website. It was extremely easy to understand and I didn’t need to provide any type of deposit or information other than the plans and my name. I believe that there is an English website which would have made this process even easier, but I tend to book things like this through the Japanese site since there are sometimes differences in the details on the sites. So, it was still easily done using Google’s translate feature. With all that done, we were ready to go!

Wearing a Kimono

The day of our reservation, we hit a bump in our path when we couldn’t find the store, but after some searching, we finally found it! The women working the store were extremely polite and welcoming even with our fumble. I gave the woman working the front our reservation details, we paid for our plans, and then we were set to choose a kimono.

Kasey and I already had an idea of what colour we wanted to wear, so it took us no time to find kimono that fit our taste. I can’t speak much for Ethan and Matt since after Kasey and I had our kimono in hand, we were ushered upstairs while the boys stayed downstairs.

One of the women took us to a dressing area where she hung up our kimono, showed us where to put our belongings and clothes, and gave us the nagajuban to change into. She then got started on dressing Kasey. While they were busy, I was directed to look through the kinchaku they had available.

Once Kasey was dressed, the woman moved her to the hairstyling area and then got started on dressing me. Everything went smoothly as many, many, pieces of fabric were wrapped around my waist. There was a point when I felt like I couldn’t breathe, but I was fine…at least that’s what I told myself. When I was almost finished, and the woman helped me with the final part of the kimono, she mentioned that since this pattern only comes in one size, the sleeves and the length were a little short on me (they do have bigger sizes available, this one just happened to only be in a straight size).

I am fully aware that I am not the size of the average Japanese woman, so I had kind of expected this to happen…or well, I had expected that something like this could come up. I asked the worker whether the length would cause any problems. She said it’ll be completely fine, she just wanted to check that I didn’t mind. I absolutely didn’t mind, mostly because I really loved the pattern. We finished up dressing me shortly after and I was sent to the hairstyling area where I found Kasey.

There were about six hairstyle options that we could choose from and we had access to all the hair accessories that you could imagine. I chose the most basic hairstyle – a typical updo that it really common to pair with a kimono style. I also chose a few simple hair accessories to decorate with. The woman doing my hair was a godsend for not only dealing with my curls, but also with the undercut I had been growing out for a while. She finished up the style quite quickly, decorated it with a few more pins, and I was done upstairs.

Kasey and I met the guys downstairs (who had been finished for a while) and we chose our obi. With that, we all picked a pair of shoes which weren’t the traditional geta, but close. I was a little relieved since we would be walking a very long way. Finally, after about an hour, we were off!

Initially, it was a little strange to be wearing a kimono. It was a bit difficult to walk in, but luckily I got the hang of it soon (the women working the store also gave Kasey and I some tips on how to comfortably move in the kimonos, especially when going up stairs). Even though there are many occasions where people where kimono, even casually, it felt a little strange wearing the traditional clothing on a rather normal day. Despite this, I was overall so happy wearing it!

We enjoyed our time taking photos and walking around a nearby shrine. However, soon it was time to return the kimonos. Although we could have kept them for longer, we were all starving and no one wanted to risk spilling something on the clothes…also, they are wildly uncomfortable to sit down in, at least for me. So, after about three hours, we were back in our dull clothes with Kasey remarking that she “doesn’t feel magical” anymore, and we were on to our next activity.

Reflections

I have an extremely biased view because I obviously love kimono and am looking forward to when I get to wear one next, but this experience is one of my best memories from this trip! I would recommend it to anyone who is visiting Japan.

It’s such a great way to appreciate Japanese culture and you can really make it your own style, too, with all the patterns available for rent at whichever store you visit.