Traditional Japanese clothes are referred to as Kimono and its literal derivation comes from the combination of two words. Ki= Wear + mono= thing basically referring to it as being something you wear. It is similar to how we call clothes from European countries as yofuku (Yo=European + fuku= clothes).
Few of the questions that people tend to ask are:
When do we wear Kimono?
Due to the way it is designed about 1200 years ago; to run, exercise heavily or to wear it for a long time becomes difficult. Thus, people nowadays wear it on special occasions such as on a graduation or a wedding equivalent to how Pakistani's would wear "gharara" or "sherwani" on special events.
What is Yukata and when do we wear it?
One of the types of kimono is known as "Yukata", somewhat similar to the concept of "Lawn k kaprey". This was originally worn as a nightwear but gradually, people started wearing it in summer due to its' light cloth material. Nowadays, many people can be seen wearing it in the summer festivals or at "Ryokan" which is a traditional Japanese accommodation that installs Yukata for free for the guests who are staying there.
-- Back in the Edo period (1600s-1860s) kimonos were used as a "symbol" to distinguish the social status.
-- Furisode (long sleeves) is used as formal clothes by unmarried women while Tomesode (Short sleeves) is used only by married women.
-- Unlike Shalwar Kameez, Kimono is actually a one long cloth commonly mistaken as a two piece suit.
-- Kimono is worn by girls when they turn 20 years old (hatachi) to commemorate the adulthood of the woman known as Coming of Age Day.
-- The patterns on the Kimono vary with the season. For example, a pattern with butterflies or cherry blossoms would be worn in spring.
-- Hakama is worn on top of kimono to make it easy to walk and was initially worn by people with higher status quo. This was originally only worn by men but with time, it has gained popularity amongst women as well as for martial arts such as Kendo and Aikido.
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