Total price of kimono rental: ¥6,500 exclusive of tax
Note that the cherry blossom season is a peak period for kimono rentals. There was a customer who tried to walk-in and she was turned away as the shop is fully booked! So remember to make a reservation online beforehand!
The shop is located near Gion-Shijo station and Gion bus stop, so it can be reached conveniently.
Address: レンタル着物 夢京都 祇園店, 300 Gionmachi Kitagawa, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Opening Hours: 9am to 6pm, you need to return the kimono by 5pm or 5.30pm I think, but we returned around 4 plus that day
It is located near where Yasaka Shrine is! This is how the building looks like!
We were there slightly before opening time!
They have a toilet in their store and I highly recommend you to use the toilet to relieve yourself before putting on the kimono! I literally didn't go to any toilets when I was wearing the kimono!!
So, you will be brought to a room to select your kimono design, obi design and a bag to carry when wearing the kimono. After which, you will be bought into a room to change to the kimono. The room is a shared one, so you will see others being brought in to change as well. It was a rather fast process; the kimono wearing! Your bags and belongings will be placed in their big bags while you are changing.
If you had decided to do your hair, you will be bought to tie your hair next! You can choose a hair accessory to pin on your hair as well! Then, you can start packing your valuables and stuff that you want to bring to the bag you have chosen earlier. I had picked a slightly bigger bag to put my things :/
Lastly, choose a sandal and pay at the counter! You are ready to take lots of photos in a kimono with cherry blossoms! Lazy to watermark photos with face shots, so here are photos with our back views in kimono!
So happy with our kimono and hair!!! :D So how was the experience like wearing the kimono?
Well.. It is very tight at the abdomen area.. We were tied tightly like 3 or 4 times there? And then they also put and tied in some hard plastic thing at our abdomen. So basically, you CAN'T BEND at your waist, you can't slouch and you can't take big steps!! Makes us realise why the proper Japanese seating position is to tuck your legs and kneel and sit straight! STAIRS ARE HURDLES!
Oh! Also, you don't feel hungry or feel like eating/drinking. I think it is too tight that's why! At one point, both of us felt very fatigue and we don't really know why.. I think other than walking up slope in kimono, we might be hungry too (even if we didn't feel it). It happens that our next stop is to try dango, so we finally get to sit down and have some food. We felt much better after that!
An interesting thing that happened at Kiyomizu-dera temple is we get other tourists asking if they can take photos with us or of us! It was a fun and interesting day! ;D
We wanted to eat proper food later in the afternoon, so we decided to return the kimono slightly earlier! What a relief to be off the kimono! Definitely worth the experience although I don't think I will put my body through that again.. at least that's what I feel for now! >.<
