What Shall We Do With KIMONO In The Chest?

Once one of my colleagues from America said he had thought most Japanese people might wear ‘kimono’, the traditional clothes of Japan even today. Women of my mother’s generation wore kimono as their daily dresses. But I have always wore western style clothes since I was a child. Today few people wear kimono except some special people and special occasions like wedding parties or Coming –of –Age-days. Most of the people don’t even know how to wear kimono. Do you feel it’s strange that we don’t know about our own traditional costumes? I myself think so too, but putting kimono on beautifully is really difficult. It takes long to wear kimono. Moreover when we are in kimono, we can’t move or walk easily. I put kimono on once or twice a year, but as soon as I come back home I take off everything and change into a shirt and pants and breath deep.

There has been a custom of wedding since time ago. When the daughter gets married, the bride’s parents prepare a big chest-ful of kimonos for her. So, women of my generation have many kimonos that were not used or will never be used. Sometimes their parents’ and grandparents’. Women often talk about them; what should I do with them? I’ll never wear them, but I can’t throw them away…   

 Some people remake kimonos to the western style clothes these days. I tried to remake my father’s kimono into my dress today. I’m really weak in this kind of work, but anyway I got a strange shaped new dress.