Kimono As Formal Wear

    There are Japanese traditional clothes, "Kimono." Now, we don't wear Kimono on a daily basis. But we wear it at some special events, for example, "Shichi-go-san; 七五三", coming of age ceremony, graduation ceremony, wedding ceremony and so on. I introduce you to some kinds of Kimono which we wear at the events, "Furisode: 振袖", "Montsuki-haori-hakama: 紋付羽織袴", "Hakama: 袴", "Uchikake: 打ち掛け", "Hiki-furisode: 引き振袖." Japanese wear these Kimono as fomal wear. 

    "Shichi-go-san" is to celebrate the growth of children at 3, 5, 7 years old. "Shichi-go-san" means "7-5-3."

contents

1.Furisode

2.Montsuki-haori-hakama
3.Hakama for women   
4.Uchikake

5.Hiki-furisode

1.

     Many Japanese women wear Furisode at coming of age ceremony. Furisode is long-sleeved Kimono. Its sleeves are about 1 meter length. Japanese had worn short-sleeved Kimono for a long time. But in Edo period, about 200 years ago, dancers began to wear long-sleeved one. Because It was very beautiful to wave long sleeves when they were dancing. But long sleeves weren't suitable for works, so it became special day's clothes.
    Furisode is worn by unmarried women. Women in Edo period had expressed their love to men by waving long sleeves. For this reason, married women don't have to wear it and Furisode is for unmarried women. 

2.

    Also, some Japanese men wear Kimono at coming of age ceremony. Their Kimono is called "Montsuki-Haori-hakama: 紋付羽織袴." "Mon: 紋" means Japanese family emblem. ”Haori: 羽織” means coats. "Hakama: 袴" for men is something like pants. Samurai generally wore it as in-formal wear first. Then, rich merchants came to wear it as formal wear. In this way, currently, we come to wear it on special days. But Japanese men wearing it are minority at some events like coming of age ceremony, graduation ceremony. Many men wear suits. That is because it may be more easier to prepare for suits than Kimono. 

There is a round "Mon" around his chest on "Haori".
"Hakama" is striped pants, in this picture.

3.

     A lot of women also wear "Hakama" in graduation ceremony. Hakama for women is like skirt. Hakama was only for men for a long time. But it came to be worn by high school girls from Meiji to Taisho period. It's over 100 years ago. At first, Japanese women wore only Kimono but it was not suitable for studying. Because Kimono lost shape while they were sitting on chairs. So they came to wear Hakama improved for women. This was very popular among them.

    Japanese students wear clothes now. But even now, many women wear Hakama at graduation ceremony because of remnants of Taisho period.

In this picture, Hakama is yellow skirt and navy skirt.

4.

    At wedding ceremony, some brides wear dresses, others wear Kimono. When brides wear Kimono, they put on very long, beautiful and gogeous coats over Kimono. This coat is called "Uchikake: 打ち掛け." There are two kinds of "Uchikake", "Shiro-uchikake: 白打ち掛け" and "Iro-uchikake: 色打ち掛け."

  

   "Shiro" means white. So Shiro-uchikake is all white. 

It is also called "Shiromuku: 白無垢."

In my wedding day, I wore Iro-uchikake. "Iro" means color. So it is very colorful.

Iro-uhikake.

On the other hand, grooms wear Montsuki-haori-hakama.

Montsuki-haori-hakama

5.

    Some brides wear "Hiki-furisode: 引き振袖" other than Uchikake. It has more long sleeves and hem than other Furisode. "Hiki" means "to drag" in this word. The silhouette is very beautiful. Wedding ceremony is the last day to wear Furisode because it is worn by unmarried women as I wrote. 

Black is especially prestigious. 

Hiki-furisode (Sorry, I don't have its photo.)

    Every Japanese wore Kimono until only 150 years ago. I imagine traditional Japan. I guess the nostalgic sight was also wonderful.
    I sometimes see elder people, like teachers of tea ceremony, wear Kimono. They wear it stylishly. It is very cool! Someday I want to be able to wear it like them.