Yukata

This year one of my goals was to buy a yukata and wear it to a summer festival. If I'm being really honest, my goal was to wear the yukata and transform into a beautiful angel butterfly unstoppable explosion of kawaii. Which, as far as is humanly possible, I'm also fairly content with. In realistic terms this meant I was able to find a pattern that I didn't look too dorky wearing, and I was able to correctly assemble the yukata after watching tutorials on Youtube. But I'll tell it my way.

These are the things you will need to successfully wear a Yukata:

One yukata set (includes robe, obi, geta, and ties) (expensive) (colors MUST MATCH)
One special yukata purse in a color that matches everything else
(also expensive but at least I got a discount for buying the other set)
One hair accessory that also matches everything else
(Twenty bucks???? You've gotta be kidding me...Fine.)
An under robe...Nah, scratch that. No one will see it.
Nail polish that matches the straps on your geta
One folding fan (luckily I had one)
One handkerchief (which I keep forgetting anyway)
Small hair bands which match your hair color
Various bobby pins which match your hair color
Strong hairspray
Hair wax
Band-aids for your toes because the geta will kill you otherwise
Socks not necessary, luckily
"Natural" makeup (i.e. the stuff I already had)

Once these are in order, you will be ready to go!

I had decided in advance that I preferred a black background for the yukata, but as that's the more traditional style there were still a ton of patterns to choose from. For some reason, I didn't want to buy without getting a second opinion, so my bud Souichirou ended up being an audience to all my fluctuations. (Haha, sorry dude! It didn't take too long, really!)

I basically poked through two rows of yukata and picked out one bright pattern and one plainer one, both of which I tried on. Although Souichirou was in favor of the brighter one, I chose the plainer one, because if I'm not going to totally ignore people's advice, why bother getting a second opinion, amirite? But the more I look at the one I ended up buying, the more I like it, so overall it turned out to be a good choice. There are lots of nice prints out there, but I think my instincts were accurate.

Choosing the geta and obi weren't too hard, since purple was the obvious choice. Unfortunately the smallest geta size was 24-26 centimeters, when the last pair of shoes I bought was 22.5 centimeters. You'd think in Japan shoes would be small enough... Then the only thing left was to get a purse, and again there was one purple one that matched. I bought the hair clip later during the week.

On Tuesday I looked up Youtube and Wikihow for how to put on a Yukata. It took about an hour and three tries to get comfortable with it. The part that's hardest (and I couldn't have done without the video) was pulling the folds out after tying the robe around my waist. It's a weird process because you feel like you're ruining what you just made, but that's what really adjusts the length of the hem. In the end it was pretty cool to realize I could take this large piece of fabric and fold it to match my body.

At this point I also realized that the obi in my set is a cheat. The bow is a clip on, so you just have to wind the band and you're done. I guess tying the bow is pretty difficult. I am perfectly happy with this arrangement because it's one less thing to deal with. Only now I can tell who on the street has a real obi and who's faking it like me. Anytime the bow is too perfect and sticks up too much, it's definitely a clip-on.

On Thursday I did a practice run of everything including braiding my hair just to see how long it would take. Not too difficult.

In case anyone's wondering what I did in lieu of the under robe... (Not that anyone's wondering, of course.) In addition to usual undergarments I wore spats and an undershirt that's meant for ventilation. I didn't want to get to sweaty. So underneath all that in the photo, I sort of look like I'm ready to go to the gym.

It's Saturday today, and so far I've gone to the festival twice. On Friday I met my friend Kelly and we went to the shrine and did puri kura. Today I hung out with my friends Kanon and Yuta, and Kanon's other friend. It was pretty crowded, but I can't walk that fast anywhere, so in a way the crowds don't matter so much!



The most useful thing I learned was that you can adjust the hem of the Yukata to any length you want--about in the range from mid-calf to the top of your feet. On Friday I tried to copy the instruction manual exactly and I could barely walk, and I was deathly afraid that the whole thing would come untucked. Tonight I made the skirt just a few inches higher and that made a big difference. I could move more freely, and the skirt never felt like it was going to fall down.

Both my sharemate Yoko and my friend Kanon were surprised to hear I had put everything on myself. Yoko said, "Kanpeki!" (perfect) And Kanon said it looked like a Japanese person had done it. Now I have mastered a valuable life skill.

As I was walking to meet my friends tonight, two men in their 30s or 40s were looking at me at the intersection. When I noticed them, they gave me the thumbs-up. Luckily, all my feedback has been that positive.