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What to wear when

Start from the plan for the day. Walking in Kyoto and attending a wedding are different standards.

Kiyomizu-dera, Gion, Arashiyama

Komon is the straightforward choice. Homongi also works and looks more dressed. Kurotomesode is formal family dress. Its hem is not made for stone steps.

Summer fireworks and festivals

Wear yukata. It is cotton and unlined. Hard sun and rain make cotton cling, and it dries slowly.

Coming-of-age and wedding guests

The formal choice for an unmarried woman is furisode. For a married woman at a family wedding it is tomesode. For a man it is a crested kimono with haori and hakama. Sizes and dates have to be confirmed ahead. The ¥2,980 experience plan is not this level, and it includes neither photography nor hair.

Tea gatherings have their own rules, often a plain color and crests rather than a large picture. Tourist dressing is not tea-ceremony dressing. Whether a temple hall allows the outfit, or asks you to remove shoes, is decided on site.

Files were resized. Komon, Pitke, CC BY-SA 3.0. Homongi, Ichiro Wada, CC BY-SA 3.0. Yukata, LACMA, public domain. Furisode, LACMA, public domain. Kurotomesode, Ichiro Wada, CC BY-SA 3.0.

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