History Main / KimonoIsTraditional

* In ''Manga/StrawberryMarshmallow'', it's discovered that Ana doesn't have a yukata, so she temporarily "borrow" one off of Miu. As in, Miu had been wearing it when she borrowed it. Then Chika remembers Nobue's old one, which Miu ends up wearing to the matsuri.

* Saotome Nodoka in ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' almost always wears a kimono, and is a walking parody of the YamatoNadeshiko archetype.

* Japan of ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'', [[MoeAnthropomorphism fittingly]], is often seen wearing a yukata and once cleans his house [[WholesomeCrossdresser while wearing traditionally female kimono and apron wear]]. Needless to say, fans love to break out the KimonoFanservice for him in fanworks.
* Kohaku from ''Manga/{{Tsukihime}}'' is a {{Meido}} who wears a kimono with an apron.
* Ryougi Shiki from ''LightNovel/KaraNoKyoukai'' wears nothing but kimono, except for a red leather jacket over it.
* Kaibara of ''Manga/{{Oishinbo}}'' is a renowned artist who practices several traditional artforms, as well as a hard-line traditionalist in other areas and almost always wears a kimono. Older characters also frequently wear kimonos.

* ''Franchise/LupinIII'' has Goemon Ishikawa XIII, who is always seen in a kimono and hakama, reflecting his {{Samurai}} honor and traditional ways. (Except for the rare times that he wears a disguise)
* The kimono is standard garb for Nozomu Itoshiki, the despairing teacher in ''Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei''. Also for his stalker, Matoi Tsunetsuki, since she always dresses like her current love.

* [[{{Reincarnation}} Katakura Kojuurou]] in ''Manga/{{Gate 7}}'' is always showed wearing a kimono and hakama ''and'' [[UpToEleven uchikake.]]
* Micaiah Chevelle of ''Manga/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaVivid'' wears these most of the time, fitting her traditional Japanese character motif (despite being [[HumanAliens Mid-Childan]]) together with her dojo, [[KatanasAreJustBetter katana]], IaijutsuPractitioner fighting style, and generally formal mannerisms.
* In ''Manga/AkatsukiNoAria'', Aria always wears a ''hakama'' as her school uniform, while Ayako and Beniko and other characters are dressed up in ''kimonos'' since they're high-class ladies.
* In ''Manga/HikaruNoGo'', Touya Kouyou and Kuwabara Honinbo wear kimono, highlighting their status as [[OldMaster Old Masters]].
* ''Manga/GourmetGirlGraffiti'':
** Ryou's grandmother wears it because, well, she's old.
** Shiina's OldRetainer Tsuyuko wears it because she works at a Japanese-style BigFancyHouse.
* [[Anime/FullMetalPanic Chidori Kaname]] utterly stuns everyone after she dons the kimono and puts out her best YamatoNadeshiko airs in one of the ''Fumoffu'' episodes. This simple act is enough to make her look at least ten years older and completely unrecognizable to anyone: it was much too easy to forget that this brash {{tsundere}} ''is'' a daughter of a high-level diplomat and, [[BrooklynRage New-York grown]] or not, she ''is'' the archetypal YamatoNadeshiko in the end.
* {{Defied}} by Mariko Kurata of ''Manga/KodomoNoOmocha'': while in the past she may have been this, finding out [[spoiler:she was sterile]] drove her to be as little as traditional as possible, still wearing only kimonos but now alongside crazy hairstyles that [[HeadPet include a live squirrel]].
* In ''Anime/YourName'', Mitsuha and Yotsuha's highly traditional grandmother Hitoha is always shown wearing a kimono.

* In ''Manga/{{Chihayafuru}}'', this is played with: karuta is a traditional game, and so it is associated with kimono. (High level matches are also officially played in kimono.) When Kanade first hears about the karuta club, she becomes very excited, because her family owns a traditional Japanese clothing store and so she has a great love for kimono (plus, the store isn't doing so well so she's always looking for places to promote it). She is highly disappointed when she realises that the club treats karuta not as an art form but as a sport, the players typically just wearing t-shirts. However, after she joins she convinces the other club members to wear kimono to competitions, which makes them stand out among the other teams. This love of traditional clothing is also important to Kanade's YamatoNadeshiko personality - she is extremely aware of her movements when she wears a kimono and is careful to always act with grace and dignity, which is noted to make her look [[KimonoFanservice beautiful]] in a way she normally doesn't. It even makes her play karuta better by refining her movements and calming her.

* On ''Series/QuantumLeap'', Sam leaped into a man who had a Japanese WarBride he brought home from his stint in Japan, and she wore a kimono all the time. The year was 1953. In the context, her constant kimono wearing might be related to either not wanting to give up clothes reminding of home and good pre-war times, and not needing to do so, ''or'' the production wanting to underline her otherness.
* ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'': The team wears traditional kimonos for some role-calls, and their ancestors wore them when not transformed.
** [[OldMaster Team mentor]] Jii is also seen wearing a kimono all the time. Even during his BadassBiker moments.
* In ''Series/{{Trick}}'', Naoko's elderly, widowed mother always wears a kimono around the house and makes a living giving calligraphy classes.

* ''Theatre/{{Madame Butterfly}}'', an opera set in Japan, has a good majority of the cast in kimonos, with special mention going to Cio-Cio-San.

* In VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}} Episode II, Jin Uzuki wears kimono in a world thousands of years removed from Japan's ''existence'' on a [[EarthThatWas destroyed Earth]]. He is not merely a FanOfThePast, but holds to a very old-fashioned [[GoodIsOldFashioned sense of propriety]], and is a practitioner, to CharlesAtlasSuperpower levels, of traditional martial arts.

* ''VideoGame/SakuraWars'': When not in the field, Sakura Shinguji wears a kimono consisting of a pink haori and red ''hakama''.
* ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'': In all of her appearances so far, Ayame, Kasumi, Ayane, and Hayate's mother, is seen wearing a kimono.
* In ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'', every character gets a KimonoFanservice card eventually, but they're more strongly associated with the traditional Japanese-style unit Akatsuki for obvious reasons. Souma in particular exemplifies this, as he is from a samurai family and generally acts as though he is an actual samurai teleported into the present day - it's rarer for him to get 4 and 5 star cards that ''don't'' involve traditional clothing, and in a mini-event he reveals that he wears kimonos around the house. He also admits that he was once scolded by Keito for wearing a kimono to school, though, and although Kaoru once questions whether he's even able to wear western-style clothing, the one time we see him in a casual outfit of his own choosing it's [[https://ensemble-stars.fandom.com/wiki/Souma_Kanzaki/Outfits?file=Souma_Kanzaki_Casual_Outfit.png#Unavailable%20Outfits a pretty normal hoodie and jeans combo]].

* ''Cartagra'' and ''VisualNovel/KaraNoShoujo'' are set in modernizing, postwar Japan. But Takeshiro (protagonist of ''Cartagra'') and his wife are among the notable few who stick to traditional dress. In contrast with Reiji (protagonist of ''Kara''), the two are less quick to adopt 'modern' styles and means, even though the wife is now a television actress.

* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' will often have traditionalist characters wear kimonos. It's perfectly natural in the series' original country of Japan, but might seem odd in the localizations, which are guilty of ThinlyVeiledDubCountryChange to the United States.
** The Fey clan wears kimonos in line with their family tradition and work of [[WillingChanneler spirit channeling]].
** GrumpyOldMan Victor Kudo from ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' not only wears one, but once embroidered kimonos as his job.
** Metis Cykes from ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'' wore a kimono while alive to reflect her fondness for Japanese culture.
** Taifu and Uendo Toneido of from ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice'' wear them in line with their work as practitioners of rakugo, a form of traditional Japanese theater.

* ''Franchise/DeadOrAlive'': In all of her appearances so far, Ayame, Kasumi, Ayane, and Hayate's mother, is seen wearing a kimono.

* In ''BlendS'', due to being from a very traditional Japanese family, the Sakuranomiya household always wear kimono save for the little sister [[FaceOfAThug Maika]], who has a ForeignCultureFetish.

* In ''TsunamiChannel'', Haruna is presented as a very traditional girl from an extremely wealthy and traditional family, having been groomed like a [[YamatoNadeshiko samurai wife]] ([[BladeOnAStick naginata]] wielding and all), so she naturally wears kimono all the time.

** Taifu and Uendo Toneido of from ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney wear them in line with their work as practitioners of rakugo, a form of traditional Japanese theater.

* The Feys of ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' wear kimonos in line with their family tradition and work of [[WillingChanneler spirit channeling]]. GrumpyOldMan Victor Kudo from ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' not only wears one, but once embroidered kimonos as his job.

In contemporary Japanese settings, the kimono is often shorthand for "this character appreciates the traditional GoodOldWays." Even people who wouldn't normally even think of abandoning the comfort of Western wear, will go out of their way to wear a fancy kimono for formal celebrations and events. For more information about the kimono, see [[{{Kimono}} the useful notes]]. For specifically kimono-flavoured {{fanservice}}, both sexual and [[PanderingToTheBase not so]], see KimonoFanservice.

* GrumpyOldMan Victor Kudo from ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' not only wears one, but once embroidered kimonos as his job.

** Steven Silverman, the father of ''VideoGame/Persona2'' party member Lisa, is an American Japanophile who runs his home like a traditional Japanese household and has the clothes to match.

* Early in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', the Protagonist [[MeetCute runs into]] Yukiko Amagi while she's wearing a kimono. It's used as visual shorthand for how she's following her family's traditions and becoming the next head of the Amagi Inn.

* Early in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', the transfer student [[MeetCute runs into]] Yukiko Amagi while she's wearing a kimono. It's used as visual shorthand for how she's following her family's traditions and becoming the next head of the Amagi Inn.

* Micaiah Chevelle of ''Manga/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaViVid'' wears these most of the time, fitting her traditional Japanese character motif (despite being [[HumanAliens Mid-Childan]]) together with her dojo, [[KatanasAreJustBetter katana]], IaijutsuPractitioner fighting style, and generally formal mannerisms.

* The kimono is standard garb for Nozomu Itoshiki, the despairing teacher in SayonaraZetsubouSensei. Also for his stalker, Matoi Tsunetsuki, since she always dresses like her current love.

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* ''Manga/KoufukuGraffiti'':

In modern Japan, the skill of dressing in a kimono and carrying it is largely limited to dancers, geisha and such, and aficionados. Being able to dress oneself in a kimono is oh-so-WOW, while yukata-wearing skill is more like a citizen responsibility. Other stereotypical kimono wearers are artistic types, mainly traditional artisans, painters, novelists and such, for whom it confers an air of respectability and grounding in tradition, which more Westernized and bohemian types often lack. Kimono are also [[CrackIsCheaper not cheap by any means]]. Thus, daily kimono wearer characters have a certain aura of elite in the Japanese mind.

In contemporary Japanese settings, kimono is often shorthand for "this character appreciated the traditional GoodOldWays." Even people who wouldn't normally even think of abandoning the comfort of Western wear, will go out of their way to wear fancy kimono for formal celebrations and events. For more information about kimono, see [[{{Kimono}} the useful notes]]. For specifically kimono-flavoured {{fanservice}}, both sexual and [[PanderingToTheBase not so]], see KimonoFanservice.

Kimono is a likely wear-of-choice for YamatoNadeshiko, and will underline her such qualities UpToEleven. A {{Geisha}}, at least a proper one, will ''never'' work out of kimono. An elderly character wearing kimono will likely represent the traditional ways, demanding respect as the iron-fisted matri- or patriarch of their family. Sometimes the whole family is dressed this way, and might seem stuck in the Middle Ages when it comes to values.

If the fianceé or would-be-so is shown in kimono, expect her to be an upper-class maiden brought up in "Kyoto style", i.e. the old-fashioned way. In short, characters wearing a kimono daily means that they will most likely follow the expected ideal of a Japanese person of their age, sex and position. The exception is a working age male daily wearer. This reads as somewhat of a rebel, as he most likely won't be a white-collar salaryman. Yet another character type seen wearing kimonos is [[HostessClub certain hostesses]] -- often a background hostess coupled with a dress-wearing one. In their case, the kimono belongs to their shtick of more grown-up, discreet charms and YamatoNadeshiko or even geisha-like aesthetics.

In modern Japan, the skill of dressing up in a kimono and carrying it is largely limited to dancers, geisha and such, and aficionados. Being able to dress oneself up in a kimono is oh-so-WOW, while yukata-wearing skill is more like a citizen responsibility. Another stereotypical kimono wearers are artistic types, mainly traditional artisans, painters, novelists and such, for whom it confers an air of respectability and grounding in tradition, which more Westernized and bohemian types often lack. Kimono are also [[CrackIsCheaper not cheap by any means]]. Thus, daily kimono wearer characters have a certain aura of elite in the Japanese mind.