Paper short abstract:

This paper investigates the appeal of the oiran kitsuke towards the gyaru subculture. I will discuss the motives and reasons behind its popularity, arguing that the practice provides young women with an alternative to the ideal of hegemonic femininity generally associated with dressing in kimono.

Paper long abstract:

The coming-of-age day (seijin-no-hi), celebrated annually on the second Monday of January, marks the transition from childhood into adulthood within the context of contemporary Japanese society, celebrating all young adults who have turned twenty over the course of the year. To celebrate the occasion, all new adults are invited to attend coming-of-age ceremonies (seijin-shiki) which are organised and conducted by the local municipalities throughout the country. Dress plays an important part of the event, with young men dominantly dressing in suits, while young women wear long-sleeved furisode kimono. The koten style, a kimono style which evokes ideas of ‘traditional Japaneseness’ and projects an image of female refinement and pleasantness through the ideal of a demure samurai daughter, or ‘Yamato Nadeshiko’, is commonly regarded as the most popular and accepted style. Not everyone wants to follow this route however.

In the early 2000s, young women of the gyaru subculture started modifying the standardised kitsuke (the way of fitting a kimono) which included positioning the obi’s knot in the front, and not, as conventionally expected, on the back of the upper body, while additionally loosening the kimono’s collar to expose the neck and shoulders. These elements reference the high-class courtesans of the Edo period called oiran, and the style came consequently known as the oiran style, or oiran kitsuke. This paper will unpack the appeal and popularity of the style among the gyaru, or, more precisely, age-jō subculture. I will investigate the origins of the style, demonstrating how individuals, magazines, manga, and celebrities all played their part in the establishment and dissemination of the style. I will ultimately argue that this style provides young women with an alternative model of womanhood; it is not the ideal of a demure samurai daughter inherent in the koten style, but the idea of a complex human being with sexual desires and longings which is projected and celebrated through the oiran kitsuke.