Wafuku - Vintage & Antique Japanese Kimonos, Haori & More
​
**PLEASE NOTE**
I am no longer sending to addresses outside the UK.
Due to Brexit's horrendously complex nightmare of requirements for sending items overseas, I've had to cease sending packages to any address outside the UK. I am so sorry about this.
Kimono & Other Information
10
Videos and Links To Pages Showing How To Wear Kimonos & Tie Obis
Information Pages
1 About Kimonos
5 Wearing and Folding Women's Japanese Garments - Including Video
6 Types of Kimono Plus Geisha & Maiko
8 Uses for Japanese Kimono Fabrics
9 Shibori and Tsujigahana Patterning Techniques - Including Video
10 Lots of Great Links To How To Wear Kimonos & Tie Obis
12 Types of Kimonos - Picture Reference
13 Haori Kimono Jackets - Japan's Secret Treasure
14 Traditional Japanese Footwear (on my blog)
15 My Wafuku Blog, with lots of information and random other things of interest
​
How to put on a yukata kimono and hanhaba (half breadth) obi. All kimonos are length adjusted this way, it's not just for yukata kimonos
It is a Youtube video, in two parts. If you only want the hanhaba obi instructions, they are in Part 2.
​
Putting on a yukata & hanhaba obi - Part 1 video HERE
Putting on a yukata & hanhaba obi - Part 2 video HERE
How to put on a nagoya obi.
There is a video (in two parts), part 1 HERE and part 2 HERE with a lesson in how to put on a Nagoya obi. Nagoya obi have the sash section already folded in half and the rear knot section at full width.
The woman in the video is wearing her kimono, with the fold-over (ohashiori) tied at the waist, to adjust length, and is wearing a (pink) date-jime obi plus an obi ita (stiffening board) round her waist . Her (white) obi ita has an elastic strap round the back, most have no strap and are just held in place by the obi. She puts the nagoya obi on top of those.
You can also get pre-shaped, two part nagoya obi, which do away with all the time consuming, complicated tying, but look the same once on. If you visit this site's obi section, you can see all kinds of obis, including nagoya and pre-shaped, two part obis
The makura (obi pillow) that she mentions is an obi bustle pad, which pads out the top of the rear knot and is hidden inside the knot, covered by an obiage. The obiage is a scarf-like tie that goes around the top of the obi sash and is tied at the front, then partially tucked under the sash. Around the middle, to help hold the obi in place, is a cord called an obijime, also tied at the front.
The taiko otaiko (obi's rear 'knot'), is shown in the illustration above as see-through, to let you see the obiage at the top, covering a makura pad, and the obijime at the centre. See below how to tie a taiko knot in a Nagoya obi and a fukuro obi.
There is a video with a lesson in how to put on a maru or fukuro obi HERE. These obi do not have the sash section already folded in half, you fold that section yourself and leave the rear knot section at full width.
You can also get pre-shaped, two part nagoya obi, which do away with all the time consuming, complicated tying, but look the same once on. If you visit this site's obi section, you can see all kinds of obis, including nagoya and pre-shaped, two part obis
The makura (pillow) she mentions is an obi bustle pad, which pads out the top of the rear knot and is hidden inside the knot, covered by an obiage. The obiage is a special scarf-like tie that goes around the top of the obi sash and is tied at the front, then partially tucked under the sash. Tehn, around the middle, to help hold the obi in place, is a cord called an obijime, also tied at the front.
​
​
A very helpful video, in English, showing how to put women's kimono garments on. video HERE
​
------------------------------------------------------
Tying women's hanhaba obi video HERE
------------------------------------------------------
How to tie Yukata Obi in a Bunko-musubi video HERE
------------------------------------------------------
How to put on a pre-tied Yukata Obi video HERE
------------------------------------------------------
How to put on a women's Tsukure Yukata Obi video HERE. Tsukure are pre-tied obis, usually in two parts.
------------------------------------------------------
How to put on a women's Heko Yukata Obi video HERE. Heko is a soft, ultra casual obi
------------------------------------------------------
How to put on a women's Hira Yukata Obi video HERE. A hira obi is a flat, thin obi
------------------------------------------------------
How to put on a women's Yukata Kimono video HERE
------------------------------------------------------
How to put on men's kaku obi with a kanda knot video HERE.
------------------------------------------------------
How to put on men's kaku obi with kaino kuchi knot video HERE.
------------------------------------------------------
How to tie Tasuki (to hold kimono sleeves up out of the way) video here HERE.
------------------------------------------------------
​
​
The picture below shows adjusting women's kimono length the traditional way.
Keeping kimono sleeves out of the way.
The lovely swinging sleeves of a kimono can get in the way when one is working, so there is a traditional way to tie them to keep them out of the way. The tie used to do this is called a tasuki. You can also get fancy clips to do this job but the tasuki tie is the standard, traditional way. the strap used to tie the sleeves up lies on the outside of the kimono, it is not threaded through the sleeves.
Here is a diagram to show you ways you can do it. The dark kimono is a men's one, the other diagrams show a women's one, ay of these methods can be used by any gender. I found this great diagram online but with no information about to whom to attribute it.
Here you can see a fancy, beaded tasuki, an elastic cord with clips on the ends, which is threaded through the obi and clipped onto the sleeves, pulling them back out the way.
