ギャラリー川野 表参道店

Coming to Japan, how can you not stop by kimono shops to get yourself a un-commericalized ( not mass produced), colorful and unique, yet affordable kimono as a souvenir. And of course to appreciate the rich textile and history that these kimono might have carried a long, a past that it try to tell through a piece clothing.

We were brought here by our workshop sensei, and was shown the technique that these kimono prints were made. A lot of these kimono were made in the 60s some earlier and some later. It was told by the dye color that was used, the print patterns to date how long ago was these kimono was made. So there are A huge variety that they carried. They have kids size kimono to teenager/ pre - marriage age ( furisode , the extra long sleeve) kimono to formal ( mostly black) style. In additional, they also sell obi , cords, neck ties and scrapes of fabrics. All these kimono are pre-owned, but yet they are in pristine condition. They might have a bit of the vintage clothes smell, but they are all very clean and well maintained.

They might not be the cheapest among all the stores ( run from around $80 And up to some thousand dollars per kimono), but they would be items that used to be thousands of dollars when it was new. Someone in our group bought a $300 furisode kimono and was dated by our workshop teacher that it was probably made in the modern time but was probably worth few thousand dollars when it was sold. And that furisode looked brand new. I think the value of things that was sold here is still quite exceptional.

On top the staff was very very nice to all of us, even though we made a mess from flipping out all the kimono on shelves. Oh and they have shipping service. We were able to get it shipped to our stay, so we didn't have to carry all these heavy kimono. A would love to stop by again if I am back in Tokyo.

Side note, it is across from the happy pancake - the jiggly pancake, so if you are waiting in line for a seat, might as well drop by to get carried away by these beautiful textiles.