kimono

The kimono is the national costume of Japan. Originally the word "kimono" referred to all types of clothing, but it has come to mean specifically the full-length traditional garment worn by women, men, and children.

Kimonos are T-shaped, straight-lined robes that fall to the ankle, with collars and wide, full-length sleeves. Traditionally, unmarried women wore a style of kimono called furisode, which have floor-length sleeves, on special occasions.

Kimonos are wrapped around the body, always with the left side over the right (except when dressing the dead for burial) and secured by a wide belt called an obi, which is tied at the back. Kimonos are generally worn with traditional footwear (especially geta, thonged wood-platform footwear; and zori, a type of thong-like footwear) and split-toe socks (tabi).

Today, kimonos are most often worn by women, and on special occasions. A few older women and even fewer men still wear kimonos on a daily basis. Men wear kimonos most often at weddings, tea ceremonies, and other very special or very formal occasions. Kimonos are also worn by both men and women in certain sports, such as kendo. Professional sumo wrestlers are often seen in kimonos because they are required to wear traditional Japanese dress whenever appearing in public.

Kimono for men are produced in various sizes, but kimono for women are typically of similar size, and are adjusted for various body sizes by tucking and folding. An ideally-tailored kimono has sleeves that end at the wrist when the arms are lowered. A man's kimono should fall approximately to the ankle without tucking. A woman's kimono is longer to allow for the ohashori, the tuck that can be seen under the obi.

Kimono are made from a single bolt of fabric called a tan. Bolts come in standard dimensions, and the entire fabric is used to make the kimono. The finished kimono consists of four main strips of fabric: two panels covering the body and two panels forming the sleeves, with additional smaller strips forming the narrow front panel and collar.

Traditional kimono are sewn by hand, and their fabrics are also frequently hand-made and hand-decorated. Various techniques such as yuzen dye resist are used for applying decoration and patterns to the base cloth. Repeating patterns that cover a large area of a kimono are traditionally done with the yuzen resist technique and a stencil.

The kimono and the obi are traditionally made of silk, silk brocade, silk crepes (such as chirimen) and satin weaves (such as rinzu). Modern kimono are also widely available in less expensive easy-care fabrics.