I did this a few years ago, but I figured I’d give it a go again.
I collect and wear kimono (and other Japanese clothing). I don’t consider myself an expert, but I seem to be the expert here. I recently took a class to get better at dressing myself (it was all little things that most people wouldn’t notice) and I’ll be taking more at some point next month.
So any questions about the history, clothing, fashion, being an American who wears kimono, whatever, ask away and I’ll do my best.
What’s the deal with the terminology “wearing kimono”? This sounds like some sort of weird affectation to me. I’m Japanese American and I’ve always heard it “wearing kimonos”.
How does one wear a kimono properly?
(Ok, I’m sure there’s a ton of variation vis a vis styles and social class, but what’re the basics?)
Do your interests encompass geisha and their dress and culture?
The plural is kimonos in english and kimono in japanese.
Though some English-speakers who are familiar with the Japanese non-plural* might use the Japanese form – as the OP did.
Do you angle your toes together when you walk? If so, does that help the kimono not gap, or is it a style of walking that goes with kimono wearing? I picked up the standing-with-toes-angled-together habit when I lived in Japan, and I thought it was just a cutesy, young child type thing, but someone told me it was a feminine holdover from kimono days and it kept the kimono from flapping open.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard ‘wearing kimono’ before, although I could of easily just not noticed. I’m sure you know that Japanese has no plural, or rather every word is plural and singular. So it’s just like you wouldn’t say ‘two sheeps’ or ‘two pokemons’.
Doing a quick google of Immortal Geisha (the main English kimono board), I’m seeing it both ways: “the other kimono are”, “are these kimonos”, “who wish to wear kimono”, etc.
So it’s just one of those things that can go either way.
I could get into very long details, but let me see if I can find a good picture. Alright, this is me in one of my more formal kimono. I’m just going to talk about the ‘traditional’ way of wearing kimono, which was set, with small variations, in the 19th century. There are ways of ‘playing’ with it, but you have to know the basics first.
Bit of triva, kitsuke is wearing kimono (technically it just means dressing and ‘in kimono’ is assumed). From aficionados you’ll hear of good kitsuke, which means doing it well, or kitsuke classes which are… self-explanatory, I think?
There actually isn’t that much variation exactly, mostly because the vast majority of people don’t wear them in daily life (not counting yukata, which are not exactly kimono.) About the only ones who do are geisha and maiko, who are basically the epitome of how to wear kimono properly (with no playing). Any variation there is is subtle - things like where the collars cross, how far down the collar goes in back, and other placement things like that.
The big thing is that the collars are layered left over right. Do it the other way and you’ll get headshaking and jokes about zombies. The only time it’s done otherwise is dressing a corpse.
Men’s kimono is slightly different (and easier) than women’s. One, their obi is much narrower, shorter, andtied in simpler knots. Two, they don’t have that fold under the obi. The kimono is supposed to be the correct height. A lot of the pictures you see of men, they are wearing hakama, which are basically very loose pants. Women wear a skirt version for graduation and a few other occasions. If you watch anime, miko (priestesses / nuns) wear hakama.
To get back to women’s clothes, which I know better. My kitsuke in that picture is fairly good, but not perfect (I have neatness problems above the waist). It’s very set these days. There are schools which think that women should be a perfect cylinder - padding if necessary. I’m not in that school of thought and fortunately neither is my teacher.
If you go back to when people were wearing them all the time, you get more variation in things like the length and straightness of the ohashori (which is that fold below the obi), mostly things that are the equivalent of having a wrinkled shirt or wearing a tie with jeans. I can find some photos. But these people were wearing them everyday. To them kimono was no different than pants and shirt are to us - different styles, fabrics, and cuts are different formalities.
As far as style, well, younger women wear brighter colors and longer sleeves (not like to the elbow, but approaching the floor) for their formal kimono while older and married women wear more subdued colors and sleeves like I have in that photo (that’s as short as they get). I have two kimono that are at least 60 years old (my teacher thinks they’re older, but I haven’t gotten expert opinions from the Immortal Geisha board) that have longer sleeves but are not meant for formal occasions. That was the style then. Apparently, longer jackets are coming currently fashionable, from what I’ve seen on eBay (I have two or three that reach my knees. They’re nice.)
As far as class, these days if the average person owns a kimono they will probably only have one. The equivalent of a suit bought at a mass-market place is a printed polyester kimono and obi with a minimum of hand-painting and embroidery. The equivalent of an Italian suit, would be a silk kimono, all hand-painted and embroidered and a similar obi, which often costs more. That would cost about the same as a car (wikipedia says $10,000 - $20,000, US. I’m not 100% confidant in those figures). The kimono and obi I buy, I get for $30 - $50 and are usually used. Sometimes less.
A geisha’s or maiko’s kimono and obi will be nicer and more expensive. Historically, and probably still generally, the more money you have the nicer the material and decoration, and the more decoration there’ll be that others can’t see. As well, unrelated to wealth, the more chic you are, the more likely for things to be understated and elegant, called iki. Geisha are classically iki. (It’s one of those words you can’t define, only illustrate).
I could go on, but I suspect this is already tl;dr.
Oh, and I’m not terribly interested in geisha or maiko. I love the clothes, I love pictures of them, and I find the history interesting, but they aren’t something I seek out.
Hmmm. I don’t think I do. When you’re wearing geta or zori, if your feet are straight you’ll look somewhat pigeon-toed, because the strap goes into the middle of the shoes, rather closer to the middle like Western shoes. The important thing to keep the kimono from flapping open is taking small, graceful steps, which I try to do. If you look at these maiko, they don’t seem especially pigeon-toed, but they’re taking tiny steps.
What’s a maiko?
A geisha-in-training, as I understand it (Disclaimer, all my knowledge about geisha comes from the the novel and movie adaptation “Memoirs of a Geisha”
That’s actually what I’m interested in - like, how does one literally put on a kimono? I imagine it’s slightly more complicated the wearing a bathrobe and possibly as complicated as if not more so then reproduction Elizabethan court dress (which I’m more familiar with).
On preview you mentioned obi and alluded to various knots used to tie them, could you elaborate a bit on that?
What does “peeking under the kimono” mean?
You’d probably need a bit more of a budget if you wanted to seek out a geisha.
When and where do you wear your kimono? If you do so in public, are you ever subject to bewildered looks and/or ridicule?
Not picking on you, I just found this amusing.
:smack: That’s how ingrained it is! I meant the first as ‘wearing kimonos’ of course.
Correct. Apprentice geisha. And to throw another term in there, in Kyoto they call geisha geiko.
I haven’t seen “Memoirs of a Geisha”. I’ve heard that they took liberties with the facts (in a movie? no way! 
). If you want to a good non-fiction book, Geisha by Liza Dalby is really awesome (as is Kimono by her).
Reactions are usually good. I generally wear them around the house. I’ve worn them to work (and the job had nothing to do with Japan). I stopped doing that because my co-workers made annoying and vaguely-racist comments. I’ve worn them to school (college) dances and family events. If you wear kimono to a sushi place, half the time you get free stuff, even if the owner is Korean (not a dig, just an observation). Last time I wore one to Torrance - going to buy more - I got the little old Japanese ladies admiring me and fixing stuff, which was cool. When they find out I put it on myself, they’re more impressed.
Oddly enough, I’ve never gotten weird looks, even when wandering around town, including going into an auto store.
I’ve found (as someone who has worn very distinctive ethnic dress of another sort) that if you’re comfortable and act confident you really don’t get too many weird looks - someone might wonder why you’re wearing that, but might just assume you’re going to/from a party, a play, or something else calling for the attire.
Putting this in a separate post to avoid super-long-length.
Obi is the belt. The technical term for the way of tying it is musubi, but I generally stick with ‘way of tying’ or bow. I don’t use knot because for each musubi you may or may not make a knot - the primary way I tie otaiko (drum bow, also called just plain taiko) doesn’t. The wikipedia page has pictures of a few types.
Besides the men’s - which is pretty much like a martial arts belt - there are three basic types of obi for women that get used often. There’s the half-width obi, used around the house and with yukata. There’s the nagoya obi, which is only from the 1920s, but is probably the most common non-casual obi. It’s designed to be easy to tie into taiko. Then there’s the fukuro obi, which is slightly longer and generally considered more formal (it depends on the decoration).
For all of these - including men’s obi, which I find hysterical because the basic knot is a square knot - you can get pre-tied versions which are really easy to put on. The bow is a separate piece which you slip into the band.
99% of the time with a nagoya or a fukuro you use the otaiko musubi. If you include variations, that goes up. Most of the time ladies use the a butterfly bow with hanhaba. There are books of really fancy bows, but they’re not used often, and if they are usually a professional is helping.
It’s much more complicated than a bathrobe. I haven’t done court dress, but I’m a peasant at RenFaire and it ends up being about that restricting, although there are more layers.
If you want ‘bathrobe’ level, you start with yukata. You’ve got your underwear, the yukata, the half-width obi, and that’s it. Easy peasy and cute. Actually yukata are literally bathrobes, or started as them. Wikipedia says they’re usually made of cotton, but I’ve never heard of one being made of anything else. They’re a common sight in the summer for festivals.
But for a real kimono, starting for the skin up:
You’ve got your underwear. There are some that think you shouldn’t wear panties or wear ones that open at the bottom. This is bull. Moving up, you’ve got your bra - either a kimono bra or a sports bra. Like a bodice, it’s meant to make you flat. Next you put on a hadajuban, which loose shirt or dress, depending on preference (I usually don’t bother, because this is California and it is very hot.) If you are the type that believes you need to be a perfect cylinder, or if you are very busty or hippy, you put padding to smooth you out over that (I’ve used padding - a rolled up pair of socks - in the past to smooth out between my little fat tummy and my boobs).
Above that you have a chemise, called variously a juban, nagajuban, or underkimono. You can also use a hanjuban which is the same thing split into two parts. A juban is pretty much just like a yukata shorter and made of silk, polyester, cotton, etc. It’s got a collar cover, which may be decorated, in which you put a collar stiffener (not required but it helps). Also not required, but helpful is a chikaro nuno which helps you get your collar in the correct place. It’s just two pieces of fabric sewn together so there are loops. It’s sewn to the back of the collar.
To put each of these layers on you have a long narrow strip of fabric called a koshihimo, although I’ve heard another name, which I can’t recall now. Everyone just calls them himo, unless they need to specify (himo means cord). They sell them, but you can use anything that’s long enough. You can never own too many. So you’re up to at least two now. You may also have a datejime, which is wider and smooths between your stomach and breasts.
Now we get to actual clothes.
You’ve got your kimono. I wear a kimono that is between 155 - 165 cm long. The neat thing about women’s kimono is that they don’t have to fit perfectly, as long as it’s long enough. This makes it a lot easier to find one and to share.
So you tie your kimono on with another himo around the hipbones so that the bottom of it is about at your ankle bones. Remember, left over right. (I always have to double and triple check, because I’m slightly dyslexic) You’ll have a bunch of extra fabric hanging over the himo. This will become your ohashori, which is that extra fold of fabric under the obi. It lets you have a kimono that’s ‘too big’ (men aren’t supposed to have one and if they do it’s supposed to be hidden under the kimono.) It also lets you move more freely. You can go without, if the kimono is too small (for example if you like really old ones), but only if the rest of your outfit is perfect (because otherwise you just look like you don’t know what you’re doing.)
Next you secure your ohashori with another himo and probably a datejime. You may also put on a kohlin belt, which is a long piece of elastic with a clip on either end that goes from your right collar, inside, through the arm hole, around, and clips to the left collar. This keeps your collars from moving around a lot.
At this point it’s time for the obi, which takes at least one more himo (temporarily), an obi-ita (obi stiffener - basically a board), a makura (pillow) that gives the obi body and is covered by the obi-age (which is basically just a scarf), and a obi-jime. Describing that would take forever, but fortunately, I’ve already made a page of how to do the otaiko musubi.
Oh, and you have tabi (split-toed socks) and geta or zori (geta are wooden sandals, informal, and you don’t wear with socks; zori are nicer). Optional stuff includes various styles of coats (I prefer haori), fans, hair decorations, obi-dome (basically a broach that slides on the obi-jime) etc.
If it sounds awful, well, you know how a bodice gives you such great support and keeps you from eating too much? A kimono is like that. And kimono has pockets, if you count the sleeves and front.
Not quite true; yukata are indeed kimono. The term ‘kimono’ is as general in Japanese as the term ‘dress’ is in English. A yukata, is by definition, a lightweight, unlined, informal summer kimono. There are other types of kimono, which are differentiated by being called their proper names; a uchikake is very different garment from* mofuko*, for example.
I would also disagree mildly that geisha are the epitome of how to wear kimono properly - it would be more correct to say that geisha are the epitome of how to wear the kimono properly for geisha. ‘Geisha style’ is very formalized, even ritualized and dictated somewhat by tradition - though geisha style does change and even vary from area to area; an astute observer can differentiate a Kyoto geisha from a Tokyo one by their clothing.
I’m more interested in the history of traditional kimono as worn by everyday people, in their everyday lives, and it’s a shame that this has all but disappeared and what is left is geishas style, which, while important, is hardly representative. I hear the same thing is starting to happen with the sari in India, which is a shame.
Hiya!
I live in Japan but don’t wear kimono, although I think they look lovely. I just wanted to add two points to your very informative thread!
In addition to geisha and maiko/geiko, women who work in some of the top-end fancy-shmancy bars are done to the nines–there are loads of kitsuke places (they usually offer hair/makeup services too) here in Tokyo.
Also maybe let folks know about funeral kimono (those worn by attendees, not the person in the box)? Those are tasteful and understated, and the makeup worn is different.
Also, many many women still wear them to (other people’s) weddings. Gorgeous!
In terms of the shorter sleeves, I seem to remember that tome-sode (the long sleeves reaching nearly to the floor) can be worn until a woman gets married (though that worked out better when women married younger; nowadays unmarried women approaching 30 will start wearing the furi-sode [shorter sleeved kimono]. OTOH, if a woman marries very young, she still switches to furi-sode upon marriage, since that overrides the ‘still technically young enough to get away with tome-sode’ clause). Am I correct here, or misremembering/making this all up?
Aand my fave bit of kimono trivia: what we refer to as ‘batwings’ or ‘bingo wings’ (big flappy upper arms) are laughingly referred to here as furisode. Pretty apt image, if you ask me!
Well, yeah, 振る means basically to flap or swing.
To add a couple of things that STG couldn’t say without sounding like she’s bragging: most young Japanese women don’t know how to put on kimono by themselves, even the simple forms. Obi tying is particularly difficult. There are some forms of bows that are meant for self-wear, but most people don’t own kimono, and they’re often used exclusively for formal occasions so there’s not that much reason for them to learn. (Even in Japan, kimono are bloody expensive. The cheap ones typically run a couple of thousand dollars.) So the fact that STG knows any of this stuff is pretty cool.
My wife, who actually does know how to dress properly in a kimono or yukata makes the same kind of disparaging comments we do about kids these days who don’t know how to wear pants that fit. She’s especially snotty in the summer, when a lot of girls dress in yukata for parties and fireworks viewing. They often don’t bother to learn how to tie even one of the simpler knots, and use the obi equivalent of a clip-on tie or bowtie on an elastic band.
Beauty parlors will book appointments months in advance for the 成人式 (Seijin-shiki; coming of age ceremony) in January. They have dressers to help the girls put on their kimono, and they get their hair and makeup done at the same time. Other events are obviously less planned, especially like funerals. Dressing experts keep themselves in work throughout the year with weddings, graduations, and other formal ceremonies.
Not everyone wears kimono for formal occasions. Western formal dress is much more common, particularly for men. Virtually the only times I see men wearing hakama is as part of martial arts dô-gi, or in a Japanese-style wedding ceremony; most of the time they wear suits. Women are more likely to wear kimono, but quite often they just wear dresses.
Still, there are some people who do wear them as occasional wear, not just for ceremonies. While it is still considered an important cultural skill, learning how to wear a kimono is definitely a niche thing, kind of on a par with Miss Manners style eloquence and etiquette classes.
