Kimono-Dressing Lessons & Projects

 

★ Niwase Studio — Private Lessons or Small Group Sessions

Available: Saturday through Thursday (excluding the separate class times listed below) Please note: weekends may be reserved for kimono events, as those take priority.
Closed: Fridays

① 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
② 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
③ 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

By reservation only, fully private.
We're happy to work around your schedule beyond the times above — feel free to reach out.

Location: Niwase, Kita-ku, Okayama City
Phone: 090-8604-0824
Fee: from ¥5,000 per session Fee varies depending on course content and any certification track.
Please contact us for details.

Kimono & obi rental available (for an additional fee)

We also offer lessons at outside venues.
We can arrange private or group lessons at a date, time, and location of your choosing.
(Transportation and parking costs are billed separately.)

Certification courses are also available.
Please feel free to reach out with any other questions.

 

 

★ Niwase Studio — Kojima Obi Course (Focused on Local Textiles)

Kojima Obi comes in a women's hanhaba-obi style and a men's kaku-obi style.
In this course, you'll learn "cute," "gorgeous," and truly one-of-a-kind ways to tie the obi, styled to pair with yukata and casual kimono.

Available: Saturday through Thursday (excluding the separate class times listed above and below)
Please note: weekends may be reserved for kimono events, as those take priority.
Closed: Fridays

① 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
② 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
③ 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

By reservation only.
We're happy to work around your schedule beyond the times above — feel free to reach out.

Group size: please apply as a group of 2–3 people.
Private one-on-one lessons are not offered for this course.

Location: Kita-ku, Okayama City (Niwase)

Phone: 090-8604-0824

Fee: ¥4,000 per 2-hour session (includes rental of a denim kimono and Kojima Obi)

Special offer!
Take 3 or more sessions, and we'll make you your own Kurashiki Wa-Denim kimono or Kojima Obi, in your choice of style, at a special price.

We also offer lessons at outside venues.
Please apply as a group of 3 or more.
¥12,000 per 2-hour session.
(Transportation and parking costs are billed separately.)

For larger groups at an outside venue, please note that denim kimono and Kojima Obi rentals are limited in number and may not be available for everyone in the group.

Schedules are flexible — just let us know your preferred location.

 

 

★ Kanzaki Studio — Kimono & Obi Fundamentals Mastery Course

Available: First Tuesday of every month, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Location: Kanzaki Ryokuchi Plaza (inside Kanzaki Ryokuchi Park)
2450 Kanzaki-cho, Higashi-ku, Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture

Phone: 086-946-0545

Fee: ¥2,000 (¥500 for a first-time trial session only)

This course may occasionally be suspended due to kimono events and similar scheduling conflicts.
Please contact us above for details.

We're also happy to design lessons around your specific interests beyond what's listed here — please feel free to get in touch.

　　　　　

 

★Kimono Myself Project

Setting a goal, and learning the skills, knowledge, and cultural understanding of Japanese dress needed to reach it by a chosen date.

【Example】The Furisode Myself Project

The Coming-of-Age Ceremony marks "coming of age"
— the first of the four major life ceremonies traditionally marked in Japan: coming of age, marriage, funerals, and ancestral rites.

The goal is to build the dressing skills, posture, and cultural knowledge needed to attend that ceremony dressed in kimono by yourself.
Through the process of dressing yourself, you come to understand, in your own way, what it truly means to "become an adult" — building the confidence and pride to carry forward as a Japanese person, and the strength to walk into the future.
And in a furisode — the most formal attire worn by an unmarried woman — properly dressed and composed, you express your gratitude to your parents.
That's the project.

 

~"Furisode Myself Project Part 1"~

 

Schedule: to be arranged among project participants

Duration: generally from around Risshun (early February) through the day before the following year's Coming-of-Age Ceremony

Location: to be arranged among project participants

Phone: 090-8604-0824

Fee: from ¥66,000 (trial session: ¥1,000, one time only)

Furisode & fukuro-obi rental available (for an additional fee)

~Furisode Myself Project, Part 2~

 

What Japanese Dress Has Taught Me About Everyday Living

Over many years of teaching people how to wear kimono, and living daily life in kimono myself, I've learned a great deal from it.

Dressing in kimono comes down to breath and posture.

When I first started learning to dress in kimono myself, I was, honestly, a mess.
I'd step on the hem and throw the whole outfit out of place, or catch a sleeve on something and tear it.
It made me realize just how careless my own movements had become.

 

 

Unlike Western clothing, kimono restricts your movement in certain ways.

And when you're rushed, irritated, angry, or shaken by something upsetting — your mind unsettled —
it shows: the sleeves end up uneven in length (the seam running down the back shifts off-center), or the folded-up section at the waist (ohashori) comes out crooked.

A troubled mind shows up directly in how the kimono sits.

So now, before getting dressed, I take a single breath first.

I've come to realize that steadying your breath is really a way of steadying your own mind.

 

 

When the obi sits in the correct position on the hips, your face naturally lifts and your posture straightens on its own.

Shisei — the Japanese word for "posture" — is also used to describe a person's mental bearing, their state of mind, not just the position of their body.

I've come to understand that posture is really about aligning the axis of both mind and body together.

Wearing kimono naturally teaches you the movements that go along with it, and I believe that carries directly into how you face life itself.

Wearing kimono is, in a very real sense, a way of building self-control.

 

And from correct posture comes a beautiful bow, and from that, a natural smile —

and from there, a life lived with care and attentiveness, toward both others and yourself.

 

It's my sincere wish that everyone might live in a society
where the heart feels truly rich and full.