I’m absolutely stunned by these extremely beautiful pictures featuring my favourite idol Toda Erika on kimono. She is doing promotion for Kyoto Kimono Yuuzen (京都きもの友禅) which offering kimono rental and so on. This is the first time I saw her in kimono She looks absolutely gorgeous in it. This makes me like her more and more!
To be exact, Toda Erika is wearing furisode (振袖), which is one of the style of kimono. According to Wikipedia, the name “furisode” literally translates as swinging (furi) sleeves (sode), as furisode are distinguishable by their long sleeves, which average between 39 and 42 inches in length. Furisode is the most formal style of kimono worn by unmarried women in Japan.
The furisode is made of very fine, brightly colored silk, and is commonly rented or bought by parents for their daughters to wear when celebrating Coming of Age Day the year they turn 20. By wearing a furisode, a young woman signifies that she is both single and a legal adult, and thus available for marriage.
For the Japanese, the Seijin shiki (成人式: normally is 20 years old) is look as a very important milestone of life, because it is a stage where a person turn from a student to working class. I can see a lot of this in high school drama, for example conversation like “must live your high school life to fullest without any regret, and enjoy your very last moment of youth before going 20”. Besides in song, where a lot of lyrics have this “otona ni naru (be an adult)” this kind of word in it.
From one of the copy writing from one of picture shown below is “ハタチは、一生モノ (Hatachi wa, Isshou mono: 20 years old is eternal memory of lifetime.)” So, this proofs that becoming 20 is something huge for them. While another is “振袖、はじめまして (Furisode, Hajimemashite)” which means “Hi, furisode” for the very first time, because this is Toda Erika’s first experience of wearing it. Stunning.
Besides her, the furisode is artistically crafted too, with all those flourish and sakura patterns, the designs and inspiring harmonic color schemes! Perhaps I can come out some sets of color scheme with this. 😀 Ohh, just speechless.
But Toda Erika is just 19 this year (born 1988), so wearing this is a little early, but that’s ok. She is going 20 next year anyway, be prepared girl! Check out the photos below. All credits goes to Kyoto Kimono Yuzen. You can check her other lovely pictures too.


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