Wearing Kimono in Japan

posted in: Tours and more

Wearing Kimono

I love to wear Kimono not only at special occasions such as graduation ceremony or entrance ceremony but also traveling to some other cities such as Kyoto city or Nara city because many people wear it in their daily lives.
I believe that wearing Kimono makes you and your silhouette so beautiful and makes your gesture more feminine.

Beauty of Kimono

I became Kimono-lovers because of a certain TV drama.
When I was a high school student, I watched TV drama titled “Atsuhime”. It is a story of wife of Iesada Tokugawa who is 13th Shogun at Edo period. It was aired every Sunday night and I watched it every week. The story is about her life that is full of ups and downs. In this TV drama, she wore Kimono so elegantly, gracefully and exquisitely. Her dressing caught my eyes every time she moves.

A few years later, I decided to take a class that teaches me how to wear actual Kimono.
Nowadays, many people do not know how to wear it by themselves and I am certainly one of them. Many people also do not have it in their closet. You need to buy it or rent it if you would like to wear it. Fortunately, my mother in law had lots of Kimonos that she was no longer to wear and she was happy to give them to me. Unfortunately, she completely forgot how to wear it.

The more I learn it, the more I like the Kimono itself and wearing it. Even the form is simple; it has many cloths, patterns, weaving, colors and motif. There are so many combinations of Kimono and Obi, a broad sash over Kimono, in accordance with seasons.

You also can present seasons by colors of Kimono. It is so interesting to consider seasons or occasions and I hope you can enjoy finding your own best combination of it.

In spring, I would recommend you to choose pink Kimono that has Sakura on it so that you can feel spring.
I strongly recommend you to wear Kimono made from Sha, thin cloth that is only good to wear in summer and pale blue color one would be nice when it is hot outside. Wisteria or iris would be great as motif.
It is a season of full moon viewing in autumn. I recommend you to pick dark color Kimono and yellow color Obi. It represents moon in the sky at night in autumn.
I suggest you to choose nandina as a winter motif. It has small red fruit and it is just so cute. After New Year’s Day, auspicious omen motif would be great to wear because you can feel of New Year and it makes people who look at you happy.

Where you can buy Kimono?

There are lots of used-Kimono shops in the city nowadays. If you are interested in wearing Kimono, I recommend you to go to the shop. You can buy your own Kimono and Obi. The shop stuff is happy to teach you how to wear it if you are lucky.
I hope you can find fun selecting them.