Kimono and Hakama in Nezu, Tokyo | Photo Print

I was living just around the corner from Nezu Station back then, and on this Sunday afternoon in late September I was heading out for a walk along Kototoi-dori. A young woman was walking ahead of me in a cream hakama over a bright blue long-sleeved kimono, the sleeves covered in big red, white, and lavender flower roundels, with a long braid threaded with tiny flowers. The whole outfit was so beautiful, right down to the decorations in her hair, that I took one quick picture from behind.

Hakama over a long-sleeved kimono is the classic outfit for a Japanese university graduation, and it goes back to the schoolgirls of the Meiji era, when the women's hakama became the uniform at girls' schools around 1900. I never found out why she was dressed up that day. The University of Tokyo, just up the road, had held its autumn graduation nine days earlier, so my best guess is a graduation photo shoot in the old streets nearby.

Nezu is one of the old neighborhoods of Yanaka, Nezu, and Sendagi, the area people call Yanesen, and it still feels like a slower Tokyo: back alleys of old wooden houses, small izakaya, coffee shops, and stores selling old-style sweets. Nezu Shrine is nearby and holds its main festival every September. It's the kind of neighborhood where someone in kimono looks completely at home.

Photographed in Nezu, Tokyo, in 2024.

AI-assisted photographic artwork based on an original photograph.