Kimono under the cherry blossoms

The kimono is a T-shaped robe wrapped left over right and tied with a wide sash, the obi. In everyday life most people in Japan wear Western clothes, and the kimono is kept for special occasions: weddings, coming-of-age ceremonies, tea gatherings and festivals. Spring is one of the times it appears most often, as people dress up to visit the blossoms.

The first portrait combines three classic elements in a single frame: a woman in kimono, branches of cherry blossom and Mount Fuji, Japan's highest mountain, snow-capped in the background. It is the kind of picture that can easily look like a postcard; what keeps it alive is the light and the softness of the blossom in front of the lens.

The second frame is closer and more relaxed, two women in kimono with flowers in their hair, the patterns of the fabric doing as much work as the faces.

The last photographs widen the context: painted paper umbrellas, still made by hand in some workshops, and a road under an arch of blossom, the setting these portraits belong to.

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Photos: u_hyyc32u22d, hitesh0141, deltaworks, 7010naoto on Pixabay, used under the Pixabay Content License. These are not my photographs.