Thankful in that through Kamio-san’s thoughtfulness, we now have our first yukatas as a couple. And well, yes, my first yukata ever.

Yukata (浴衣) is the summer kimono. Although you’re still pretty much covered as compared to popular western summer clothes, yukata is much breezier than kimonos in that you don’t have to wear layers of cloth on you. You still have the obi though. There has to be obi to hold everything in prettily.

Blue for Atsushi. Very manly.

I particularly love this intricate detail on the sleeves.

Kamio-san chose a purple yukata for me. He said that in Japan, purple is considered as the color for nobles. As he relates, centuries ago, the material used to dye cloths in purple were very rare and hence come off expensive. Ergo, only nobles and rich people can afford it. That was then how people associated the color purple with nobility.

Kamio-san tossed in a bonus for me. Zouri (草履) or japanese slippers to go with my yukata. Yey! The slippers are yellow-themed and would go well with the yellow obi.  When I first saw it, I exclaimed that he got my size right – my shoe size is 22.5~23cm! LOL. Apparently, “23” is a well-known brand in Japan for apparels.  

Thoughtful that he is, Kamio-san also included in the package a guide pamphlet on how to wear our yukatas. We badly need it I think since we both haven’t had any experience yet on how to don a yukata, by ourselves. Although based on our experience with our assemble-DIY bookshelves, we seem to have some trouble following operating manuals. Basically, we just go ahead and then when we encounter some difficulty already, that’s when we remember the “operating manual”. LOL.

Arigatou Kamio-san for your unique and very Japanese wedding gift! 🙂