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N4Yukata at the ryokan and the festival

How to Wear a Yukata

Most ryokan leave a yukata in your room, and not only in summer: guests wear them all year. Learn the one-minute ryokan way, the festival way for women and men, and the etiquette.

Ryokan quick wear Festival style
Guests in striped ryokan yukata stroll along a willow-lined street in Kinosaki Onsen on a summer evening
城崎きのさき温泉おんせん（兵庫県ひょうごけん） Kinosaki Onsen, Hyogo

The one rule

Left over right

Right side first, left side on top.

CorrectLeft on top
WrongRight on top
  • Men and women both wear the left side on top.
  • From the front, the collar looks like a lowercase y.
  • Careful: 右前みぎまえ (migimae) means “the right side goes on first”. It does not mean “right on top”.

Right over left is how the deceased are dressed, so avoid it.

Left and right are from the wearer’s point of view.

01Ryokan quick wear · about 1 minute

Wear a ryokan yukata in one minute

Ryokan yukata come in sizes, so there is no fold at the waist. Men and women wear them the same way. Only the height of the sash is different.

  1. Pick your size

    Check the size (S, M, L…). Your feet should just show. Too small? Call the front desk.

  2. Arms in

    Put the yukata on over your underwear and put your arms through the sleeves.

  3. Right side first

    Wrap the right side across your body first.

  4. Left on top

    Bring the left side over it. From the front, the collar looks like a y.

  5. Women
    Men

    Tie the sash

    Wrap the thin sash around you and tie it at the front or the side. Men tie it low on the hips, below the navel. Women tie it at the waist.

02Festival style · 8 steps

A festival yukata, step by step

At summer festivals and fireworks, people wear their own yukata with a wider obi. The steps are a little different for women and men.

Two women in pink floral yukata walk away down a street, with wide obi tied in bows at their backs
背中せなかのリボン Obi bows at the back · Tokyo
A women’s yukata with a wide green obi at the waist beside a men’s navy yukata with a narrow checked obi worn lower, on display stands

Women and men

Women
A women’s yukata is long. The extra fabric becomes a fold at the waist, the ohashori.
Wide obi at the waist
Men
A men’s yukata has no fold at the waist. Choose a size that ends just above your feet.
Narrow obi low, below the navel
Front view

Under and below

What to wear underneath, and on your feet

Underneath

  • Underwear underneath is normal.
  • A thin T-shirt or camisole is fine too.
  • When you sit, keep your legs covered.
Close-up of dancers’ feet in white tabi socks and black wooden geta with red thongs

On your feet

  • Inside the ryokan, wear slippers. Take them off before you step onto tatami.
  • Outside, wear geta (wooden sandals).
  • Tabi or socks are optional.

03Etiquette

Yukata etiquette at a ryokan

Rules differ a little from place to place. If you’re not sure, check the signs or ask the staff.

  • OK

    Dinner

    At most ryokan you can go to dinner and breakfast in your yukata.

  • OK

    Baths and corridors

    Wear it in the corridors and to the baths.

  • OK

    Strolling the town

    In onsen towns like Kinosaki, walking around in a yukata and geta is part of the fun.

  • OK

    Another size

    Too small or too big? Ask the front desk for another size.

  • OK

    Checkout

    At checkout, fold it and leave it in the room.

  • Check

    Lobby and buffet

    Some hotel lobbies and buffets don’t allow yukata. Check the signs.

  • Don’t

    Don’t take it home

    The yukata belongs to the ryokan, so don’t take it home.

04Before you go out

Common mistakes

  1. Right side on top

    Right over left is how the deceased are dressed, so avoid it.

    Left on top, for everyone

  2. Inside out

    Don’t wear it inside out. The seams go on the inside.

  3. Men: obi up at the waist

    Obi below the navel

  4. A loose, open collar

    Collar in a neat V

    Collar close to the neck

  5. Too long or too short

    Feet just show

  6. The waist cord shows

    Wrap the obi twice around your waist, over the cord, so the cord does not show.

  7. A loose obi

    Obi is snug

05Words and phrases

Yukata words

Tap a number on the picture, or tap the speaker to listen.

Close-up of a folded indigo cotton yukata with a cream obi printed with a leaf pattern
  • yukata cotton robe
  • obi sash
  • sode sleeve
  • eri collar
  • migi right
  • hidari left
  • ue on top, above
  • mae front
  • kiru to put on, wear
  • nugu to take off
  • musubu to tie
  • maku to wrap
  • kasaneru to overlap, layer
  • tanzen padded winter robe
  • haori short jacket
  • geta wooden sandals
  • surippa slippers
  • saizu size

Five useful phrases

  1. Do you have a bigger size?
  2. May I go to dinner in my yukata?
  3. Please show me how to tie the obi.
  4. The left side goes on top.
  5. Is this the right way (right side first)?

06Practice

Practice

Eight questions: a picture, listening, ryokan situations and words.

Question

Practise more

Ryokan content

参考さんこうと写真しゃしんのクレジット Sources and photo credits

Dressing references

Photos (Wikimedia Commons)

Photos resized and converted to AVIF and WebP. Illustrations are original to Safa-Yafa. Audio: ElevenLabs voice, recorded for this lesson.