Privileges For Kimono Wearers

[MrRING]

Wearing kimono means free subway, museums in Japan's ancient city

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's ancient capital Kyoto will give free transport and museum entry to anyone who wears a kimono in a bid to support the traditional but infrequently worn garment, a city official said.

"We will offer free tickets for subways, buses and 20 sites in the city for 11 days from Friday to anyone wearing a kimono," said Ami Tsujii, Kyoto official in charge of promoting traditional industries. Foreign tourists are eligible and can rent a kimono for 3,000 yen (28 dollars) a day, she said.

Kyoto, home to hundreds of temples and shrines, served as Japan's main seat of government from the eighth to 17th centuries and remains one of the few places where people in kimonos are a common sight. It is also a major center of the textile industry that makes kimonos, which in 21st-century Japan are primarily worn for special occasions such as official holidays and are usually more intricate and expensive than modern clothing.

Tsujii said Kyoto was concerned that "people have fewer opportunities to see or wear kimonos." Sites with free admission include museums, the Kyoto Tower overlooking the city and the Nijo Castle which was the residence of the shogun rulers of the 17th-18th centuries when they visited the western city from Tokyo.

Source

 

[OneWingedBird]

My friend who grew up in central London during the 60s said it was quite common then to see Japanese and Arabic nationals walking around in their national dress. Not quite sure when that stopped, but I guess times change.

 

[lemonpie3]

There are a lot of very good reasons why very few people wear kimono any more, not least of which is that you have to go to lessons to learn how to put it on. The rules are pretty rigid. It's practically an esoteric art.

Then there's the cost of a single kimono, and because there are rules about what kind of kimono is appropriate for what kind of social occasion you'd need an entire wardrobe of them. Then as you grow older you'd need kimono appropriate for your age and marital status.

:snore:
zzz
... I'll stop now.

 

[Anonymous]

Please go on Lemonpie. Sumptary differences are fascinating. Are the differences defined on the web anywhere in english?

M

 

[Cider]

When I was there about fifteen years ago, it was very common to see young women in Kimonos. However, if I remember rightly it was only for some sort of coming of age ceremony. I think maybe when they turned 20? Or something. (Hey, I was a teenager- I mostly just cared about what my mates were doing.)

Anyway, certainly I never saw anyone wearing one as a part of their everyday life. Mostly I just saw Kimonos hanging up in gaigin houses.

 

[lemonpie3]

Yep, well remembered Cider. Seijinshiki is the coming of age ceremony at age 20. Most people dress up in kimono for it. Because they're young and unmarried (most likely) girls wear Furisode which means long sleeves (not shoulder to wrist but wrist to floor) which wave ('furu'). Furisode are also brightly coloured and decorated all the way from hem to shoulder. But furisdoe is only appropriate for unmarried girls. So, what if you're 30 or 35 and not married? Too old for furisode, but only married women wear tomesode (short sleeves) This is one of the problems with kimono - social structures have changed but kimono is stuck in the past.

If you're really interested Liza Dalby's book Kimono is interesting. It is a whole book though. http://www.lizadalby.com/ Her website has a video on though.

 

[SniperK2]

I remember reading a little about Kimono's in her book Geisha, was it? and the different sleeve lengths and patterns, and how to wear them, it does sound like an art form, and I'm damn sure I couldn't do it. But they look so gorgeous, you can see how they would turn heads.

 

[Mireli]

We went on holiday to Japan last year & were lucky enough to see 2 maiko (apprentice geisha) walking down the street near the Gion district in Kyoto. We were all stunned. They wore beautiful silk Kimono (very intricate due to being trainees).

Mind if I hadnt seen a geisha, we'd been talking about stalking Gion alley just to get a glimpse of one

 

[lemonpie3]

You can also dress up as a maiko, they'll dress you and put your wig on and put your makeup on and you can go out and about in town like it. Wish I'd tried!

When you say 'turn heads', here's a thing: the younger the wearer the more prim the manner of wearing. The older the wearer the more overtly 'sexual' the dress.

EG nape of the neck is a key erogenous zone, right? so a 20 or 25 year old would barely expose the nape of the neck, whereas a 50 or 55 yr old would wear the collar at the back quite low.

The exception is the geisha, who obviously wears hers low. The maiko wears hers very primly.


... I do have a life, honestly.

 

[SniperK2]

There is something fascinating about Geisha though, mind you, when you read about it, it seems like incredibly hard work, what are those tall shoes they wear? I mean how? :shock: And isn't there a certain way you ' have ' to walk in a kimono, and those shoes, at least if you want to look at all elegant. I do have that book somewhere, I must dig it out, but wow do they look exotic, and beautiful and unreal. It's one of those things I hope never dies out simply because it looks so gorgeous, although the behind the scenes life sounds exausting ( at least as it was, in years gone by, from what I've read )