# Kimono photoshoot

> Kimono in Kyoto’s Higashiyama lanes, Arashiyama’s bamboo or around Asakusa, starting from a rental shop close to the spot so the first frame comes minutes after dressing. Allow 30–60 minutes at the shop; rental is a $55 add-on or your own booking.

This page as HTML: https://www.komorebis.cc/services/kimono-photoshoot

- Type: Photo · Only-in-Japan shoots
- From: $260
- Duration: 30 min
- You receive: 15 edited photos within 3 days

## What is included

- 15 edited photos
- A short walk from the rental studio to one spot close by
- Advice on a kimono colour that reads well against the season
- Private online gallery within 3 days

## Add-ons

- Kimono rental & dressing — +$55
- Hair & make-up artist — +$100
- Extra hour — +$150
- Reel add-on — +$120
- Drone add-on — +$235
- Express 24 h delivery — +$80
- Mandarin-speaking assistant — +$70

## From the rental shop to the first frame

Who it suits. A kimono photoshoot is for anyone who wants to be photographed in kimono where it looks most at home: couples, friends, solo travellers, men as well as women. You do not need to own one. Most people rent for the day from a shop near the spot, and the session is planned from that shop’s door, so you are in the first frame minutes after the obi is tied.

The dressing timeline. The schedule is set by the shop, not the light. Dressing takes about 15 minutes for a man and 30 to 60 for a woman with hair; most shops open around 9:00 and want the kimono back the same day, usually by 5 or 6 pm. Our rental add-on is $55 per person including dressing, and hair and make-up is $100. Where the best light comes before the shops open, as on the Yasaka Pagoda lane, the plan is an earlier slot by arrangement, dressing the night before, or a dresser at your hotel, quoted separately.

Kyoto. Gion is where the classic picture exists — a sloping lane of wooden machiya with the five-storey Yasaka Pagoda at the top — and it means standing on Yasaka-dori by about 6:15 from October to March, 5:15 in summer. Arashiyama’s bamboo grove needs a block of colour in the middle of the path, which a kimono provides; it stays clear until about 7:30 on most days, and JR trains from Kyoto Station take about 15 minutes. Fushimi Inari’s gates look the same all year, which makes it the dependable choice in weeks without blossom or leaves; we stay on the lower mountain, because zori are not made for the climb.

Tokyo and beyond. In Tokyo, Asakusa is the kimono district: rental shops sit within five minutes of Kaminarimon, and the temple approach is nearly empty between 6 and 7:30 am. Kanazawa’s Higashi Chaya, with teahouses from 1820, is the choice for people who have seen the crowds in Gion, and it has no private-lane ban. In Nara the deer will eat a sleeve that has brushed a cracker, so the session uses the walled Yoshikien garden instead of the open lawns. On Miyajima we plan around high tide, when the torii stands in open water and you stay on dry stone.

Choosing a kimono. Pick a colour against the season and the place: pale kimono against the deep green of moss or bamboo, deeper reds and greens against autumn maples, darker tones against winter stone. From about June to September shops rent cotton yukata instead, far kinder in Kyoto heat that regularly passes 35 °C. Zori are slower than shoes, so the 30 minutes stay at one spot.

Etiquette. The shop wraps the left side over the right — the reverse is how the dead are dressed. In Gion, photography has been banned on the private lanes off Hanamikoji since 2024, with signs warning of a ¥10,000 fine, so we shoot on the public streets: the Shirakawa canal and Tatsumi Bridge, the steps of Yasaka Shrine, the slopes up to Kiyomizu-dera. Teahouse doors in Gion and Higashi Chaya belong to working businesses and homes, so we keep clear of doorways and never block a lane. Geiko and maiko are never photographed without consent or followed, and inside temple halls the camera stays down.

Rain and extending. Light rain is workable, and many shops lend rain covers for kimono; in heavy rain we move the time or the place with you. More spots — the Shirakawa after the pagoda, or Isuien’s garden after Yoshikien in Nara — are added with extra hours at $150 each. You receive 15 edited photos in a private gallery within 3 days, and you can carry on exploring in kimono until the shop’s return time.

## Places

- [Asakusa](https://www.komorebis.cc/services/kimono-photoshoot/asakusa.md)
- [Gion](https://www.komorebis.cc/services/kimono-photoshoot/gion.md)
- [Arashiyama](https://www.komorebis.cc/services/kimono-photoshoot/arashiyama.md)
- [Fushimi Inari](https://www.komorebis.cc/services/kimono-photoshoot/fushimi-inari.md)
- [Nara](https://www.komorebis.cc/services/kimono-photoshoot/nara.md)
- [Miyajima](https://www.komorebis.cc/services/kimono-photoshoot/miyajima.md)
- [Kanazawa](https://www.komorebis.cc/services/kimono-photoshoot/kanazawa.md)

## Frequently asked questions

### Do we have to book the kimono rental ourselves?

No. Add rental and dressing for $55 per person and the shop near the spot is booked with the session; if you have already booked a shop, we plan the shoot around its opening and return times instead.

### Can men and children wear kimono too?

Yes. Rental shops dress men in kimono with hakama trousers or a haori jacket, and most have children’s sizes from about three years old. Dressing a man takes about 15 minutes, a woman 30 to 60 with hair. The shop wraps the left side over the right — the reverse is how the dead are dressed.

### Can we shoot in Gion?

On its public streets. Since 2024 photography has been banned on Gion’s private lanes around Hanamikoji, with signs warning of a ¥10,000 fine. We shoot by Yasaka Shrine, Tatsumi Bridge on the Shirakawa and up Ninenzaka towards the Yasaka Pagoda at dawn. We never photograph geiko or maiko without their consent.

### Is kimono too hot in summer?

Yes, full kimono in July and August is hard work: Kyoto regularly passes 35 °C. Choose a cotton yukata instead, which shops rent from about June to September, and book the first slot of the morning.

### Can we keep wearing the kimono after the shoot?

Yes, until the shop’s return time, usually 5 or 6 pm the same day. Many people spend the rest of the morning in it; just keep it away from street food and, in Nara, away from the deer.

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Komorebi · https://www.komorebis.cc