For no reason, I woke up in the morning and told myself, “I will spend the whole day wearing kimono!” And I actually did!
Before Japan opened its doors to the Western world about 150 years ago, everybody in Japan was wearing it. My grandmother used to wear it every day. It was not something she wore only for special occasions.
By the time I grew up, people’s perceptions changed. For me, for the longest time, it became something archaic, not cool, not hip, a thing of the past.
If you visit Japan now, what percentage of Japanese people are wearing kimono? Maybe most people walking in kimono in Kyoto are foreign tourists? Is it OK? If it’s not OK, how come I don’t wear it more often? Can I walk the talk?
It took me more or less thirty minutes to put on this kimono. Once I wore it, I sat on the desk most of the day, I cooked, I cleaned the house, and I even took for a walk in the neighborhood.
I didn’t have much inconvenience doing all that. When I did the house chores, I wrapped around the sleeves with a rope in the shape of the number eight (or infinity?). It is called “tasuki gake.” With tasuki gake, my sleeves were never in the way.
The obi (the sash around the waist) was not too tight. I didn’t have any problem breathing or eating. With the obi, I could keep my back not hunching. A great support for a good posture!
I’m beginning to realize more benefits of wearing kimono. Let me do it more often…