---
node: garment_yukata
type: garment
slug: yukata
title: "Yukata"
lead: "The yukata is an unlined cotton kimono, once worn after the bath and now the casual dress of summer festivals and fireworks. Light and simply tied, it is the most informal member of the kimono family."
published: 2026-08-09
updated: 2026-08-09
image_file: yukata.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yukata_no_tachi_bijin_LCCN2008660694.tif"
image_author: "Katsukawa Shunshō"
image_license: "Public domain"
---

## Overview

A yukata is a single-layer cotton robe cut like a kimono but plain and easy to wear. Traditionally dyed in indigo and white, it needs no lining, no under-robe, and no elaborate obi, which makes it the everyday garment of summer.

## How it is worn

It is wrapped left over right like any kimono and tied with a simple obi — a soft one for women, a narrow one for men — worn over bare skin or light underwear. It is standard dress at summer festivals, fireworks displays, and hot-spring inns.

## History

The yukata began in the Heian period as a bathing robe of hemp called yukatabira, and in the Edo period, as public bathhouses spread and cotton became cheap, it turned into casual after-bath and summer wear for townspeople. It remains the one kimono that most Japanese still wear.