The Complete Handbook of Komon Kimonos

I run a small kimono rental business and I've been flying blind for two years, mostly trusting whatever the Japanese wholesaler told me. This book finally gives me the vocabulary and the technical details to verify what I'm buying. The chapter on silk quality and construction alone paid for the book a hundred times over when I stopped overpaying for machine-stitched pieces sold as hand-stitched. The repair economics section is also spot-on. Highly recommend for anyone serious about the trade.

Solid, practical reference. I'm a costume designer and I appreciate that the book doesn't treat kimono like fragile museum pieces. The wearing instructions and the ohashori details were clearly written by someone who has actually dressed people. I docked one star because I wanted more on men's komon—the coverage is fine but thinner than the women's sections. Otherwise, this is the first English-language resource I've found that talks about grading and silk integrity without hand-waving.

This is the reference I wish I'd had ten years ago when I started collecting. I've bought and sold over two hundred komon, and I still learned things about era-specific dye techniques and how to spot re-dyed or panel-replaced garments. The maintenance chapter is exactly what my clients need. I've already recommended it to the local kimono study group, and three of them have ordered their own copies.

It's a decent overview, but I was hoping for more depth on the actual economics of reselling. The business chapter lists opportunities but doesn't give real numbers on margins or what dead stock costs eat into profit. Also, the glossary is helpful but I would have liked more photos or diagrams—this is a visual subject and the text-only format makes fabric quality descriptions hard to grasp. Useful as a starting point, not the final word.

I bought this because I inherited five komon from a relative who lived in Japan for decades. The book helped me understand what I had, and the grading criteria are clear enough for a beginner. However, the troubleshooting chapter is too narrow—moths and mildew are covered, but what about creases that won't come out or color bleeding? I guess that's what professional cleaners are for. Overall a worthwhile buy for the basics, just not exhaustive.

A lot of useful info, but the layout in the ebook version is clunky. Tables that should be viewable all at once are split across pages, which makes side-by-side comparisons difficult. Content-wise, I really appreciated the era identifiers and the section on silk grades from different prefectures. The section on how to fold a komon for storage is worth the price on its own. I just wish the publisher had handled the internal formatting better.

The book is comprehensive but I had to adjust my expectations. I was looking for a quick-buying guide, and this reads more like a textbook—which is actually fine, just not what I wanted on a Sunday afternoon. The chapter on installation and usage is careful and detailed, and I picked up a few tricks on collar positioning I hadn't seen anywhere online. If you're okay with a dense read, you'll learn a lot. Just don't expect a picture book.