Tutorial [9/1/21] The Introductory Guide to Kitsuke: Kimono for Your Dolls

Introduction
Hello everyone! This is a multi-part guide for people who want to know about wearing yukata and kimono, how to go about dressing & posing their doll, and making/finding the right clothing materials and accessories. This will cover vocabulary terms and briefly talk about some different styles of dress and their occasions, and more! This guide will also have links to all of the relevant resources that I know of, including sewing tutorials or extra knowledge, mostly in a further reading section at the end. In this guide, I also hope to discuss dressing dolls of different/unique body types, and posing dolls in kimono.

This is not to say that the way people dress their dolls is bad; this guide is meant to educate people who want to learn more about kimono and dress their dolls with accuracy. Even if you want to be accurate to traditional dress, don't be too afraid to bend or break some of the rules. For example, your male BJD can wear female kimono or 'feminine' colours if he wants to. It's your doll! Hopefully, this will encourage people who are hesitant to give their dolls kimono as this guide can serve as their starting base. This subject can get pretty complex, down to exact colour and pattern motifs for each season - but I am only going to cover the basics. Anyone interested in pursuing this further will have resources made available to them beyond this guide.

What we are covering in this guide is called Kitsuke 着付け - (n) dressing; fitting. The technique of wearing kimono [in this context].
This guide is written with BJD in mind, however, as some things need to be adjusted for BJD.

Because they're defined in better terms, I will be borrowing definitions like the one above from the old Immortal Geisha forums.* This guide will teach a lot of vocabulary, but hopefully it will be decently spaced out with the way I have organized this.
*The Immortal Geisha forums are now gone! However, I am leaving the url here in case anyone wants to use the web archives to peruse what they can of the forums. Immortal Geisha also has a Facebook group, and they are currently working on a wiki database but it will take them a long time.

TUTORIAL INDEX
Part 1: Yukata Section A Yukata Parts Explained | Section B Undergarments
Part 2: Kimono parts & accessories
Part 3: Dressing for specific roles and occasions
Part 4: History of the kimono & dressing for previous eras
Part 5: Dressing & fitting the kimono to the doll, even BJD with unique shapes
Part 6: Posing your doll in a kimono; etiquette & the yamato nadeshiko
Part 7: Folding & storing your kimono!
Part 8: Modern spins on kimono fashion; how to break the rules
Part 9: Further reading, general knowledge and sewing tutorials

These parts will be posted in this thread as they are completed, and linked back to this post which will serve as the masterpost & contents for this thread. However, don't be discouraged to leave comments, ask questions, etc!

Now then, there is something to cover before we even get to part one...

Part 0: Are You Dead or Alive?
This is prefacing everything else because this is one of the most important things to remember.
Depending on how you fold your kimono when you wear it, you are either living or deceased.

In Japanese funerals, the deceased are dressed in kimono, although men can also wear suits. Females wear white kimono (which is why depictions of female ghosts in Japanese art history portray the woman in a white kimono). However, the dead wear their kimono differently: while normally, a kimono is worn with the left side crossing over the right side, the dead wear it reverse with the right side folded over the left. There is no other situation where the kimono is worn with the folds reversed like this - so be careful when dressing your doll!

Here is an image example of what I mean:


I will be making little illustrations like this when I can, but there are usually more helpful images that already exist, which I will make sure to provide links to when relevant. Illustrations can only be so clear! As I have revised this on and off for the past couple years, I realized that this guide might end up a little lengthy, and, because I need to refresh my memory and most of my sources are old, I need to do some refreshing myself! I want this guide to be as helpful and accurate as possible, so I am trying to review and research what I discuss in this guide. If over time I notice errors or inaccuracies, I will update this guide with corrections. I am a busy student who is set to graduate soon, so there will be some time before Part 1 is finished.

With that, this introduction is over. Stayed tuned for updates, and thank you for reading!

 

Thanks for your interest! My guide for kitsuke is more focused on modern use and kimono as they have existed in the last two centuries as it is the most relevant, whereas junihitoe is from the Heian period; however, I am hoping to briefly mention the junihitoe since it was a great influence on kimono. I don't think I will go into too much detail though since further outside reading is likely accessible with relative ease. I myself am curious as to how one would go about dressing a doll in junihitoe.

 

@Flamingomoon That is beautiful, thank you so much for sharing! It is such a shame your friend's website is down.

 

Part 1: Yukata Parts & Accessories, Section A
Section B coming Soon so help me I hit the 10k character limit and had to split the posts​

INTRODUCTION:
The yukata is the most commonly worn nowadays, and is the most casual kimono. The yukata is kind of its own thing, as the basic kimono rules do not apply so strictly to the yukata like they do to all others. The primary characteristics of a yukata are that it is made of 100% cotton and it has no lining. I will touch a little on fabrics for yukata in this part and go into more detail in another part - for now, just know that not all yukata dyeing methods are colourfast. But there are things we can do to protect our dolls. It will still be relevant for dolls.
Yukata & kimono used to be commonly worn apparel by all until Japan's culture was changed by outside influence around the turn of the 20th century, and later the local impacts of World War II irreversibly changed the accessibility and culture of kimono. Despite being simpler than the kimono, the dressing process for the yukata is still tedious with several steps, so it is not as common to wear yukata as casual everyday wear anymore, but it is still common enough to be seen as casual streetwear, and is popular with young people. However, it is still associated with and used by some for certain activities which we will go into now.
Because of the light cotton, it's usually worn in the summer, mostly during festivals. It can also be worn around the house, as sleepwear, and there are also yukata to wear in ryoukan (traditional Japanese inn) and onsen (hot spring bath, bath houses) before and after bathing. That's right, like bathrobes! The term yukata is actually derived from yukatabira ("bath undergarments"), and this is the origin of the yukata. It is clear how kimono are so commonly misunderstood to be bathrobes now, huh? For the record, those bathrobe "kimono" shown so often in non-Japanese media are not anything like the yukata worn in bath houses and inns.

IMPORTANT NOTES: If your yukata is unpatterned, it is an indoor yukata, too informal to even wear outside. If you have a patterned yukata then you can wear it outside of your house.

Who can wear yukata?
Everyone! But there are some differences between age and gender. Traditionally, younger females wear brighter colours like pink and red, and go darker/more subdued as they age; but in modern times that is not strictly followed anymore. Most men still wear dark colours, though. Yukata for women also have longer sleeves than yukata for men. The older you are, the more subdued and smaller your patterns on your yukata will be as well.

*Appropriate colour schemes can get very specific and change depending on the season, as well as seasonal pattern motifs. More on this later, but in general, you do not actually have to worry about seasonal patterns with yukata. It's not required like it is with all other kimono! But there are still seasonal motifs and colours we will touch upon, especially if you want to make your doll's yukata yourself and find the aspect fun.

PARTS
If this is your first time dipping into the Japanese language or memorization is not your strong suit, then this might hurt. However, it is necessary to know at least the most basic parts, and if you are aiming to sew any of these garments yourself then you will definitely need to know these and even more later in this guide (and honey, you’ve got a big storm comin’).
You can look up diagrams with the parts of the yukata and kimono labeled, but there are so many and they often are missing terms, the labels are confusingly placed, there are spelling errors, inaccuracies, etc. I have tried my best to compile everything I can of THE BASICS that I can into images with some light colour coding to help. If anything is unclear or if you have questions, leave a comment and I will answer you!


This image is hosted on my flickr for the sake of backup in case the original website ever goes down, but here is the original image at its source.


I have added another image because the first one will is a little cluttered and can seem difficult to read and interpret. sourced from one of the Kimono.docx files in the Global Kimono facebook group.

MAIN BODY of a Kimono


Eri - the whole collar of the kimono. Refers to the whole strip of fabric that is attached to the body of the garment and also goes around the neck area.

Tomoeri - Outer collar (collar protector). This is the top part of the collar, which is double-layered with this. It is a fabric that goes over the eri as the second layer. Sometimes it is called kake-eri; however kake-eri can also specifically mean that it is made from material different from the kimono fabric. Some of these kake-eri can be removed and replaced with a different one (the eri is one of the easiest parts of the kimono to stain).

Ura-eri - Inner collar.

Erisaki - The end edge of the collar.

Maemigoro - front main panel, excluding sleeves. The covering portion of the other side of the back maemigoro is divided into left and right maemigoro. When the right maemigoro (right when wearing; seen left on the diagram) is tucked under the left maemigoro and tied, it is then called shitamae, and the overlapping left maemigoro is then called the uwamae.

Ushiromigoro - Main back panel, excluding sleeves, covering the back portion. The back panel is usually considered quite important because when kimono are put as displayed pieces, it is displayed with the back as the face of the display. You have probably seen such decorative displays before.

Okumi - An extra panel added to the front of the kimono to make it wider in the front than it is in the back, that way you can fold one side of the kimono over the other with overlap. Okumi-sen is the okumi seamline. It is important to take note of the okumi-sen because when you wear kimono, you want the okumi-sen to line up with the middle of your right leg to know you are wearing your kimono properly.


The back of the collar at the very back of the neck is called the emon.
For women, the emon is pulled back slightly to reveal more of the nape of the neck. Doing this helps to keep the collar from touching your hair, which was especially useful for women with very big hair such as nihongami style/wig (traditional hairstyle, can still be seen on geiko and maiko), or a low hair bun. It also keeps sweat on the neck from touching and staining the fabric so easily. The exposed nape of the neck is considered very alluring, and during a time when even showing ankles or wrists was risque, the exposed neck was especially attractive. The emon pulled back is considered part of the beauty of the form and silhouette of the kimono. How far it is pulled back depends on the type of kimono, and age can be considered too.

To keep a stiff collar shape on your dolls, it might help to use something firm but flexible inside of the fabric of the collar.



Sode - SLEEVE
Ideally, kimono more formal than yukata should hit at or below the outside wrist bone when your hand is resting at your side.

The outside corner of the sleeve on the bottom can be flat or curved depending. The curve is called marumi.
The younger the person is, the more rounded the corner (marumi) of the sode will be. This is prominent in small children's kimono and in furisode. Grown women only have slightly rounded corners, grown men (from 13-ish) have square corners.
Keep these aspects of your doll/'s character in mind when making a kimono for them.

There are other different parts of a the sleeve such as:
sodeguchi - the sleeve opening your hand goes through
tamoto - the section of extra fabric that hangs below the arm; the sleeve pouch
furi - the opening of the tamoto facing inward to your body. I have also seen it simply defined as the sleeve below the armhole, however.
sodetsuke - the armhole (sodetsuke-sen: the seam line of the armhole). The backside of the sleeve is called the uchirosode.

There are also different lengths the sode can be and they have their own names… Look forward to that when we talk about other kimono.

On the body of the garment near the sleeve and under the armpit, is a small opening. It is called the miyatsukuchi. You can see it shown in the above image with the sleeve labels. It can help you straighten out your kimono, and often you use it to create a fold in your kimono to make it shorter, called the ohashori. You might be wondering at this point how you can do this and keep your kimono together. Well..

TIES - the tie you use to tie your kimono with is called the koshihimo. You can use 1 koshihimo depending on your process of dressing yourself, or you might use 2 or even 3. Two is recommended, to tie one under and one over the ohashori. They are long fabrics strips, but they aren't too thin. They can also come in somewhat wider varieties to lessen painful cinching around the waist.

There is even MORE vocabulary to learn when we get to kimono. Oof! Thankfully we have some time before then.

To be continued in Section B!
Back to Part Zero​

 

CONTINUE TO SECTION B​

I can't edit my first post anymore because of the character limit and I'm not sure how to fix it​

Update Thoughts
It has been such a long time coming with just this first part, and in the end I hit the character limit and had to cut some of it out for Section B! I was mostly busy with school until the end of summer, but I did struggle sometimes with wondering how necessary it was for me to do this and go out of my way to draw images... But no one has done it for dolls, and I want to make this kind of information more accessible for everyone. I am sticking with it, and I will do my best to correct any misinformation I find. I am trying to be careful, as I am simply doing this out of an amateurish passion.

I wanted to include a more in depth history of the yukata, but I struggle with organization and I still haven't decided how to write it separately from the history of kimono, or how I am going to fit it in - I think at least a brief history is very relevant to those of us who want to dress our dolls, because a lot of us assign characters to our dolls and give them entire lore and backstories. It would help people who care to build their characters a lot, especially historical characters. I will also include predecessors to the kimono for this reason, the junihitoe and the kosode!

The priority right now is to get out Section B, which will include the remaining parts and accessories to the yukata, and hopefully hairstyles and makeup if they will fit in there too. After that, I'll figure out how to fit the history in even if I have to restructure the organization of Part 1.

Anyway, I am sorry for this rather incomplete addition after such a long delay, Section B is mostly done but needs images to be hand drawn. Please enjoy, and thank you for reading.

P.S. do you love how obvious it is that I drew all of the pictures at different times? I'm crying inside

 

[changelog] Small update to Section A (I know, "where is section B!? It's been ages!" I'm deeply sorry). I rearranged and added some of the information. Also added another image for clarity, because the original image I used for kimono parts is admittedly very cluttered looking and hard to read...
I hit the 10k limit so I could not say this in the original post, but the small additions and second image I have added are sourced from the Kimono.docx files from the Global Kimono group on Facebook.


(╯︵╰,) Section B... Soon! It has been in my drafts for a long time, as I collected more and more info it was easy to feel overwhelmed. I waffled about wondering if there was a point in me doing this since there is so much information out there to find and I struggle with how to organize information greatly.

But in the end I wanted to commit to doing this so that by the end, people could feel confident about how they approach buying, crafting, and dressing kimono for their dolls.
It's easy enough to link to tutorials, but there are so many specifics about kimono, formality of time/place/occasion, which patterns are appropriate for which season, and no one talks about how to achieve the silhouette on dolls. People have a lot of character ideas so they deserve to know, but be presented the information in a quick to consume way, and given links to more in depth resources at the end where they have the knowledge and vocabulary so that they know how to navigate whatever they want to explore.

Section B will cover the kinds of accessories to wear with yukata, and details about the significance of certain colours and patterns. Hairstyles, hair accessories, bags, shoes, fans, undergarments, and most importantly obi (the fabric wrapped around the waist of a kimono) will be discussed! Hopefully I don't hit the 10k limit again.

 

Yukata, Section B
Accessories: Undergarments​

I'm splitting accessories information into smaller posts for organization and character limits. This section is about what is usually worn under the yukata.

UNDERGARMENTS (HADAGI)
For yukata, undergarments are not always necessary, especially for men; however, most people wear undergarments to protect their yukata from sweat stains. For women, wearing something on your chest underneath is generally recommended because of the miyatsukuchi (holes under the armpit) in women’s yukata, which can sometimes open up more and expose some side view when you bend a certain way…

There are different undergarments you can wear and different recommendations for different yukata, but you can even wear only tank top and leggings with nothing extra.

But this guide’s priority is dolls. We don’t need to protect the yukata from the doll, we need to protect the doll from the yukata! This is especially important if you are using fabric from an actual yukata, because depending on the dye method, they are NOT colour fast. To prevent staining, you should try to put some kind of undergarment (or one of those BJD body suits) under the doll, especially if you are using a dark fabric.


HADAJUBAN & SUSOYOKE - Undergarments commonly worn with yukata. The hadajuban is a top piece and the susoyoke is a bottom piece. They are usually made of cotton. Since BJD proportions can vary wildly and become very stylized, you should do whichever type is easiest to put on and cover your doll well without a lot of wrinkling.


You can see what they look like, and how to put them on, right here:

How to wear hadajuban

How to wear susoyoke

How to wear one piece slip


There are more kinds which wil be discussed below with more image links.
This next part are extra things to pay attention to for everyone making the yukata themselves, especially if you are using actual yukata bolt fabric for the job:


YUKATA FABRIC NOTES
TRANSPARENCY - One thing to note about yukata fabric is because they’re made for summer they can actually have transparency to the fabric. This is another reason why undergarments like hadajuban/susoyoke are still recommended for your doll.
This section sourced from the archives of the dead Immortal Geisha forums which translated this information from a 2006 issue kimono magazine. Because of that, it's mostly copy pasted info since the only way to get this now is the Wayback Machine. I suppose you can skip this section if you don’t care about sewing the yukata yourself. Archived source

0% TRANSPARENCY - HIRAORI KOMA, COTTON TSUMUGI (100% COTTON FABRICS)

* HIRAORI KôMA: the sturdy non-textured cotton fabric you can find in onsen and ryokan yukata; traditionally this kind of yukata was worn at home after bathing, without undergarments. Nowadays it has expanded its use to street wear.

* COTTON TSUMUGI: with a rougher texture, this fabric looks alike to other natural fiber fabrics like hemp or ramie. The surface looks irregular, with slubs, and has a quite crispy touch. Looks cooler and stiffer than hiraori koma.

Visual yukata example from the archive

These yukata aren’t intended to be worn with any kind of collar. So, the recommended undies are kimono bra or tank top with suteteko (under-drawers).

Visual example of the undergarments used, from the archive

Though you can’t see anything through these fabrics, the magazine says you shouldn’t wear them topless (I'm sure they haven’t even considered the idea of wearing yukata bottomless) because:

* You have the risk of showing your breast (accidentally) through the under-arm openings

* The yukata fabric “sits” better on another fabric, and doesn’t stick to your skin.


50% TRANSPARENCY - COTTON & HEMP BLEND, COTTON RO, COTTON KÔBAI

*COTTON & HEMP BLEND: crisper and lighter than plain cotton fabrics. Sligthly textured.

* COTTON RO: ro is an open weave gauze used for summer kimono. Its characteristic feature are spaced open rows sited horizontally in the plain weaved fabric. It gives the fabric an unique striped texture.

*COTTON KÔBAI: 100% cotton semi-sheer fabric with textured lattice pattern, because is woven with warp and weft threads of different thickness.

yukata example from the archives

Undergarment example from the archives

Even if you want to wear these yukata with collar there is no need of doing a long nagajuban (another undergarment, used for kimono). Instead, you can wear summer fabric kanten-haneri (easy collar). As you can see in the pic at the bottom left of the page, they attach the kanten haneri to the yukata collar at the nape, because it helps to keep both yukata and collar in place and gives a neat collar line.

100% TRANSPARENCY - SILK KÔBAI, HEMP

*HEMP: very airy and crispy light weight fabric, with a slightly rough texture and fine quality. (Very often kasuri weaving.)

*SILK KÔBAI: is made with silk and cotton blended, in the same textured latice pattern than the Cotton Kôbai, but the silk one is sheerer.

Yukata example from the archives

The magazine says these ones should be considered more like summer komon kimono than yukata. (This means, in terms of formality, this yukata should be treated more like the specified type of kimono than the casual level of formality that a normal yukata has. Because of this, you can wear certain accessories usually only worn with kimono with this yukata. It will have an elevated formality and become less casual wear). Due to the fabric transparency, long juban is required, even if you are wearing them with hanhaba obi and neither haneri (half collar for kimono) nor tabi (socks for kimono).

Undergarment example from the archives

Long undies you can wear:

1.Hemp juban, with kimono-shaped sleeves.

2.Lace sleeved hanjuban + susoyoke. In this case (as you can see in the photo), the sleeves won’t “fit” the kimono ones. This will be seen through the outer fabric if you stand against the light, but it seems it's not a mistake, and they say this kind of lace sleeves add a nice “retro touch”.

Next we are going to go over the accessories you need to get dressed in a yukata properly. This part is where things can go awry, both on humans and dolls alike.

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Fixed, thank you so much for bringing it to my attention!