How to Pick the Perfect Vintage (or Second Hand) Kimono
The Right Kimono Starts With the Right Measurements
You’ve decided you are going to buy your first kimono. Congratulations! You are going to be wearing a work of art with a 1000 years of history. Perhaps it is a vintage kimono you saw on an online site or auction. A quality kimono can be bought relatively inexpensively second hand if you are patient and know what measurements you need to make sure that your beautiful kimono fits you so that you have years of use out of it, instead of getting home and realizing it’s too short or too small (guilty!!).
Please note that most kimono are going to be sold using centimeters as the measurement, so it’s worth grabbing your measuring tape and getting those numbers before you go shopping.
There are 3 main measurements you are going to want to concern yourself with:
Mitake — The Length of the kimono (Known as Kitake for men).
Mihaba — The width of the kimono including all panels.
Yuki — The measurement from the center back seam to the end of the sleeve.
For Mitake, as a woman, you are going to want to look for a kimono that has a length that is at least as tall as you are. That’s because, for women’s kimono, there is what is known as Ohashori — it’s a fold that shows beneath the obi that is useful for adjusting the height of the kimono to the wearer’s. It also helps to keep the columnar look to the kimono by covering the curve of your posterior. For men, you are going to buy a kimono with a length equal to the back of your neck to the tops of your feet. Men’s kimono do not have Ohashori.
Mihaba is made up of 3 measurements. Ushirohaba, the width of the back panel, Maehaba, the width of the front panel, and Okunihaba, it’s a second front panel that disappears under the collar. The collar is not included in the width. Sometimes you will see each panel’s width listed separately.
You are going to want to purchase a kimono that is at least 10 cm wider than your widest measurement to ensure a good fit and that it doesn’t kick open too far as you walk. A good guide is to check to see if the Okuni line (that’s the line between the Okuni panel and the front panel) falls between your big toe and long toe.
Yuki is a measurement not many outside of the kimono community would know about, and it is going to be most important if you are buying a kimono for a formal event. You see, wearing kimono is a modest endeavor and the wrist is something to be covered. Think of it as from the Victorian point of view of covering your ankle. Therefore, your yuki should be long enough to cover your wrist and even the top of your hand when you hold your arm out extended to one side. If you are buying it to wear at a convention or just out to lunch with friends, the yuki is less important (and there are ways of posing to hide that it isn’t quite long enough).
With this knowledge you should be able to confidently buy a kimono that fits you comfortably. Don’t be sad if the first one that you look at doesn’t fit. There are thousands of kimonos presently for sale on Ebay and Yahoo Japan, and 1000s more being sold in used kimono shops and flea markets throughout Japan. With a little searching you will find one (or many!) that you will love and want to treasure!
To learn more about kimono, see my blog and my youtube channel.
