Traditional Japanese robes are called what?

Traditional Japanese robes are called kimono. A kimono is a wrapped-front garment with a rectangular body, square sleeves, and a broad sash called an obi.

The word kimono literally means “thing to wear.” It became the main form of clothing for Japanese men and women, while Western-style clothing gradually became more common during the Meiji period and afterward. Today, kimono are especially associated with weddings, funerals, tea ceremonies, festivals, graduations, and other formal occasions.

Kimono vary by season, formality, age, gender, fabric, and pattern. A yukata is a lightweight cotton garment often worn at summer festivals, but it is a casual type of kimono rather than a completely separate tradition. Formal women’s styles include the furisode, with its long sleeves, and the tomesode, typically worn by married women.

A common mistake is to treat “kimono” as meaning only an elaborate women’s robe. Men and children also wear kimono, and many everyday or informal versions exist. The garment is normally wrapped left over right; the reverse arrangement is traditionally associated with dressing the dead.