There are so many wonderful types of kimono that it can be confusing. Below you will find some of the more commonly used terms and their descriptions.

Kimono

Kimono
Traditional full-length Japanese gown.

Furisode
A type of kimono worn by unmarried women, typically at formal occasions. The sleeves are longer than in other kimono.

Tomesode
The most formal kimono, typically black, worn by married women on special occasions. On tomesode kimono, the pattern is around the hem and below the waist line.

Uchikake
Uchikake is a kimono which is the traditional bridal gown.

Yukata
Cotton kimono without linings worn as bathrobes or as casual clothes for the summer typically at the summer festivals.

Haori
A kimono jacket, typically of hip or mid-thigh length.

Michiyuki
A type of haori with a square neckline at the front.

Obi

Obi
A belt or sash to be worn with kimono.

Chuya-Obi
A reversible obi with two different patterns inside and outside.

Fukuro-Obi
Fukuro obi is appropriate for formal and semiformal occasions. Fukuro means double-fold or bag. It is made of two different fabrics, which are sewn together. The pattern only appears on one side.

Maru Obi
The patterns are woven on double-width fabric before being bent and stitched. Both the outside and reverse are patterned.

Nagoya Obi
The nagoya obi is characterised by a portion of the obi being pre-folded and stitched in half.

Silks

Bingata
A type of stencil dyed fabric originating from the island of Okinawa, typically featuring bright colours.

Chijimi
Pre-dyed fabric with fine wrinkles on its surface.

Chirimen
Silk fabric with wavy wrinkle, produced by twisting the threads while weaving.

Donsu
Damask silk of a thick and glossy texture.

Hitokoshi-Chirimen
A kind of chirimen, crepe silk, characterised by its small and minute wrinkle.

Kinsya
High quality silk-gauze woven with foil, gold and silk threads.

Koubai
Sheer material with lattice pattern.

Meisen
Silk woven with dyed cocoon in the ikat technique.

Omeshi
A silk woven in the ikat technique with strongly twisted pre-dyed silk threads.

Rinzu
Glossy thick silk.

Ro
Silk gauze.

Shibori
Silk produced by one of several methods of dyeing the fabric with a pattern by binding, stitching, folding, twisting, or compressing it.

Sha
A sheer silk fabric with a rough texture.

Tsumugi
Silk with a rough texture, woven with hand-spun threads from cocoon fibres.

Urushi
Urushi is brocade woven with lacquered threads which may be coloured, but are most often in shades of gold, copper and silver.

Cottons

Yukata
Cotton.

Techniques

Ikat
A style of weaving that uses a resist dyeing process before the threads are woven to form a pattern or design.

Kasuri
Fabric woven with threads that have been pre-dyed to produce a motif – most commonly cotton, but also silk and silk mixes.

Shibori
See silks above.

Yuzen
Design produced using a dyeing technique where each pattern is drawn or painted by hand.