Coming of Age Day in Japan – Kimono Pictures 2014

Posted on 15 Jan. 2014
in: Features • Tokyo Fashion News • Tokyo Street Snaps

Coming of Age Day (Seijin no Hi) is a Japanese holiday celebrating young people’s graduation into adulthood. Every Japanese boy or girl who reaches the age of 20 (the legal age of majority in Japan) between April 2nd of the previous year and April 1st of the current year is invited to join ceremonies throughout Japan celebrating their transition from childhood to adulthood. After a local government-organized morning or early afternoon Coming of Age ceremony with their family, new adults usually head out to party with their friends and celebrate their new freedom (and responsibility).

For lovers of Japanese fashion, one of the best things about Coming of Age Day is that young women attending the official ceremonies throughout Japan traditionally wear formal furisode kimono along with beautifully done hair and makeup. Young men occasionally wear kimono as well, although we more often see them in suits.

Coming of Age Day Kimono in Japan (1)

Kimono are a relatively rare sight on the streets of Tokyo these days (with the exception of yukata during hanabi season). Coming of Age Day is one of the only days of the year when you can walk around Harajuku and Shibuya and see large numbers of young people brightening up the streets in their colorful kimono. It’s a wonderful thing to see – and something that is truly “only in Japan”!

On Coming of Age Day 2014 (held on January 13th) – as we’ve done in past years – Tokyo Fashion’s photographers headed for the famous Shibuya Scramble to shoot kimono pictures for those of you who couldn’t be here to see them in person. We hope you enjoy looking at the pictures as much as we enjoyed taking them.

To all of the new adults who we met on the street in Shibuya: Congratulations, and we’re looking forward to the future that you all will create! Also, thank you for allowing us to take your pictures. We hope to see you again soon!

Click on any Coming of Age Day kimono picture to enlarge it.

Tags: , , ,
Gender: Group
Location: Shibuya

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15 Comments

  1. KOBE CANDIDO

    This coming of age festival is a beautiful cultural event!…..especially in this 21st century where clothes, hair-styles, etc in Western countries remains the same throughout the year!..so boring.. plus an “equalizer”..What a pity!!…..
    These celebrations in Japan , with the femals dressing up in Kimonos , beautiful hair-dos…..add to the attractive culture of th Japanese. I am sure that these events, also attracts tourists…contributes to trade and income…work opportunities….!!…Young males and females becoming acquianted!…match-making!…..boy meets girl!!….

  4. Byron's muse

    I love kimonos and these girls look absolutely adorable! Love the flowers in their hair, just gorgeous! Wish I could see it!

  5. Nora Jean Stone

    Thank you for sharing these photos. My mother is from Tokyo and has lived in the USA for over 65 years. I want to show her these photos to let her know that the “coming of age” celebration is still going on. The young people are so creative, beautiful, and looking like they are ready to face the future. I especially love the photos of the men wearing traditional Japanese clothing. With the Westernization of all countries it’s important for each country to embrace their own beautiful traditions.

  6. faun Bonewits

    Thank you. They all are absolutely beautiful.
    I love all the fabrics and the attention to detail in tying the obis
    and an their hair the kanshashi, just every thing.

    The flowers of winter warm my eyes.

  8. DIvya

    all of them are absolutely stunning. the kimonos so gorgeous.. they all look right out of an anime/manga… amazing!

  9. Deadly Bite

    Kimonos are always so beautiful it’s hard to believe. It’s great that people in Japan still have some occasions to wear them, because they’re such a treasure :)
    I’m glad to see that the weather was much better than last year! :P It almost feels like spring in the pictures ^^
    I also loved to see more ‘fantasy’ kimonos and free interpretations than on previous years – like the girl with the doll kimono, for example. Wow! There were some amazing and pretty unusual fabrics :D
    But the ones that especially impressed me were the gyaru style couple – the guy with the grey hair… OMG! His look was EVERYTHING! LOL
    Fantastic pictures! Hope to see lots of kimonos next year! :)))

  11. Amaya

    Lovely pictures! You can almost feel the vibrant spirit just by looking at them. :) One of my favorites is the girl with the red kimono, made even more striking with her jet-black hair and heavy fur stole.

  12. NhaVy

    whaa i cant believe some theses people are 20, they look so mature (not in a bad way of course) and i love the guy with the silver hair in the kimono, he looks rlly cool >.<

  14. ali

    things like this is exactly why i want to live in japan, you won’t find anything like this where i live, people don’t even put in enough effort to look like even a tenth of the fabulousness that was displayed in these pictures on their wedding day.

  15. lrd

    I was in Tokyo this July 2014 and when we were in Shibuya, I was happily surprised to see quite a few young women wearing kimonos. Not all were as grand as these furisode, and their obis were simpler with large bows in the back, but it was still wonderful to see the traditional dress is alive and well in the young generation.
    I was wondering if these young women in the photographs either rent, buy or are given as a gift their furisode. These are very high quality and are USD $1200-4000.

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