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Frequently Asked Questions

We don't claim to be experts on kimonos, but here are some of the questions customers often ask me and the answers I tend to give. If you have other questions (and answers!) that you would like to share, please email me about them!
1. How does the sizing work?
2. Why doesn't the kimono come with an obi?
3. How to wear traditional items?
4. How do I fold my kimono or hakama?
5. How do I display my kimono or obi?
6. What do Japanese Brides and Grooms traditionally wear?
7. How do I clean my kimono or obi?

 1. How does the sizing work?
 Most of the garments we get were handmade for the people who bought them, so there is no small-medium-large standard. They have all been made from a standard length of fabric--a tan--about 13 yards long and 15 inches wide. They are actually one-size-fits-all garments that can accommodate any woman who wears a Western dress size 2 to 12, sometimes 14. Older kimonos tend to run smaller, since Japanese women (like all of us) gradually became taller over the years of the 20th century. We all know that the average Japanese body is smaller than the American one, but you should also understand that kimonos are typically folded over at the waist to the precise length needed, and bound in place with an obi. They are supposed to wrap all the way around with the right side on the left hip and the left side on the right hip. The overlap should be 6 "to 12 ", bt the kimono can be worn more loosely, especially as a robe, so that without the waist fold there is extra length, and a reduced overlap across the front can accommodate a wider frame. Women who need size 14 or larger or who are over 5'9" should consider one of our custom made kimonos.

 2. Why is the obi sold separately?  
An obi often costs as much as the kimono and are chosen to suit the occasion and characteristics of the wearer. The color, style, and design variations are so great that they can make the kimono seem more or less formal, or the wearer seem older your younger. Wonderful combinations of color and design which may tend to challenge the western aesthetics would be considerd apprpropriate or artistics to the Japanese eye. In addition, most of our customers use the kimono as a robe or loungewear, and the traditional obi is not practical or comfortable for this use. In this case I suggest one of our belts that can be purchased for an additional $10 with any kimono.

 

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 3. How should I wear traditional items?
 There are many non-traditional ways to wear our items, but if you prefer to wear them in the traditional style check out these sites for step-by-step pictures on how to put on, tie up, and wear these garments:

To tie a butterfly (the simplest style) obi:
http://www.japaneselifestyle.com.au/fashion/butterfly_obi.html

To put on a kimono:
http://www.japaneselifestyle.com.au/fashion/how_to_wear_yukata.html

To put on the hakama, click here for a printable graphic.

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 4. How do I fold my kimono or hakama?
Kimonos should be folded along vertical lines and laid flat in a drawer. Hanging them for long periods of time on hangers can put unnatural stress on the garment and is not recommended.

Folding a kimono is like fabric origami, but it does create a nice, flat, unwrinkled square that can be stored easily. There is a nice pictorial of this in The Book of Kimono, but if you don't have that, try this website:
http://www.thetatamiroom.com/kimono_folding.html

or the video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ-x3LFCjw0

To see how to fold your hakama, click here for a printout or view this YouTube video.
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 5. How do I display my kimono or obi?
Traditionally the Japanese use a free standing lacquered rack called in iko. The kimono is hung over the top pole, then the front panels are opened up and spread outward. Kimonos that are very long will flow gracefully along the floor. If space and budget are limited, a modern option is a simple dowel or length of bamboo that you can hang by two hooks and cording from any wall. We offer a handtooled wooden hanging rod if you want something more refined. Either the front or back can be displayed, as you wish. Exposed fabric will fade unavoidably, but be careful to avoid direct sunlight.

Displaying an obi can be more of a challenge. Wide maru or fukuro obi can be hung straight from a dowell or "woven" over bamboo. Nagoya obi are more difficult because of the folded portion, but a fan-shaped display is quite attractive. See our Dramatic Display page for more ideas.

(For just hanging the kimono in a closet, consider our telescoping plastic hangers.

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6. What do Japanese brides and grooms traditionally wear?
These days, Japanese couples may have up to three types of ceremonies. - Shinto, Buddhist and Christian. For a Shinto ceremony, the bride wears white shiromuku. At the Buddhist temple she will wear a colorful uchikake or kakeshita. For the Christian ceremony at a chapel, a western-style wedding dress. The groom's attire at the three Japanese ceremonies is the same - black kimono, striped hakama, black haori. Here is a great YouTube video of a couple getting professionally dressed for their wedding.


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 7. How do I clean my kimono or obi?
If you just want to freshen the kimono (and get rid of any musty vintage smell), just hang it outside in the shade on a breezy day. You can try spot-cleaning any new blemishes rather than washing the entire garment, but it is unlikely that older stains will come out. If you decide to dry clean the item, find a dry cleaner who is used to working with vintage silk. A few customers have written to say that the home dry cleaning products work just as well. Silks can often be cleaned right in the washing machine, on gentle, but we don't recommend it unless you test-clean a small inside seam first. Some silks will wrinkle terribly. One customer shared this with us: "Metallic embroidery has NO stretch or “give” to it. Therefore, if it is washed or dry cleaned, the silk will “draw” and leave the metallic embroidery crinkled or puckered, if it does not break the metal threads. This type of silk can only be very gingerly surface cleaned—without water! This is why metallic embroidery was traditionally reserved for the nobility and very rich—when a garment was dirtied, it was thrown out, or the metal recovered from the stitching, and the remains used for other purposes."


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Email us if you have a question or infomation about kimono or obi or have information to share.....

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