Juban: the under-kimono explained

This guide is part of Komon Lab’s free MVP series. We do not sell patterns. We explain how the traditional system works so you can use any pattern — paper or PDF — with more confidence. Affiliate links, where present, are clearly marked at the foot of the page.

If you have read any English-language source on kimono, you have probably seen the word juban used in three slightly different ways without anyone explaining the distinction. Sometimes it means a thin cotton under-tunic that goes next to the skin. Sometimes it means a full-length silk under-kimono with a contrasting collar that shows above the outer kimono. Sometimes it means both layers together. The word covers a small family of garments, and which one you need depends on what you are wearing on top.

This matters for two reasons. First, the outer kimono is not designed to be worn next to the skin. The fabric is too fragile, the cleaning is too expensive, and the wearing position depends on a stable inner layer that the kimono can drape over. Second, the visible part of the juban — the collar — is part of the outfit. A wedding kimono with a stained han-eri (changeable collar piece) on the juban beneath it is not a complete formal look. The under-layer is functional and visual at once.

This guide explains the juban family, what each piece is structurally, when you need to sew your own versus when buying makes more sense, and how the layering relates to the outer kimono you have already built. It assumes you have read our yukata vs kimono guide and cut chart guide.

Three layers, not one

The Japanese under-kimono system is two layers, sometimes three, depending on formality:

The innermost layer is the hadajuban (肌襦袢, “skin juban”), a short cotton tunic that comes down to about hip level. It is worn directly next to the skin. Its job is hygiene: absorbing perspiration so the silk above never touches the body. It is usually paired with a separate susoyoke (裾除け), a wrap skirt that covers from waist to ankle. Together, the hadajuban and susoyoke form a two-piece foundation. This pair is cheap, washable, and replaceable. Modern versions are often poly-cotton blends and look like simple T-shirts and wrap skirts.

The middle layer is the nagajuban (長襦袢, “long juban”), a full-length under-kimono cut to the same general shape as the outer kimono but with a contrasting collar (the han-eri, 半襟) and slightly shorter sleeves. The nagajuban is the layer you actually see in the finished outfit — its collar peeks out above the outer kimono’s collar, its sleeves show through the outer kimono’s sleeve openings, and the sleeve lining colour shows through fine outer silks.

The outer layer is the kimono itself. This is the only layer most English-language sources discuss, and it is the layer that does the least amount of work in keeping the whole structure in place.

For everyday or summer wear, many people skip the hadajuban and wear only a nagajuban over modern Western underwear. For yukata, no juban of any kind is worn — the yukata sits next to the skin. For formal or winter kimono, all three layers are used.

Hadajuban: the simplest piece

A hadajuban is the easiest garment in the kimono family to sew. It is a short tunic of two body panels, two short sleeves, and a thin collar. The fabric is plain cotton, usually a lightweight muslin or a fine cotton sateen. Total cloth requirement for an adult hadajuban is about 2 metres of 110 cm Western-width cotton, or one short bolt (about 5 metres) of 38 cm Japanese-width cloth.

The construction is identical to a yukata in miniature: the body panels are sewn together along the centre back, the sleeves are attached at the shoulder line, the collar is a single folded strip applied as a band. Because the hadajuban will not show, there is no need to use a kuke hidden stitch or to interface the collar. A machine-sewn hadajuban is entirely conventional and indistinguishable in use from a hand-sewn one.

The hem is turned twice and machine-stitched. The body length is short enough — typically 60–70 cm from shoulder to hem — that no facing or weighted hem is needed.

For sewing a first hadajuban, a bolt of unbleached cotton muslin provides enough yardage for two finished pieces plus a matching susoyoke. The muslin softens with washing and becomes pleasant against skin after about three launderings.

Nagajuban: the visible under-layer

The nagajuban is structurally more interesting. It is the layer you can see, and it is the layer that determines how clean the outer kimono looks in photographs.

The body and sleeve cut of a nagajuban mirrors the kimono on top but with three differences. The body length is the same (the nagajuban hem should be invisible beneath the kimono hem). The sleeves are slightly shorter in both drop and depth — typically 2–3 cm shorter on each measurement — so the nagajuban sleeve does not poke past the kimono sleeve. The collar is much narrower and is finished with a removable contrasting band, the han-eri.

The collar is the most distinctive structural detail. A nagajuban collar is built in two parts: a permanent base collar, made from the body fabric, sewn into the neckline; and a separate han-eri (half-collar) made from a contrasting cloth — traditionally white silk for formal wear, plain cotton for casual — basted onto the base collar by hand. The han-eri is removable. When it gets soiled (the makeup line on a women’s nagajuban appears at the back of the neck within a single wearing), the han-eri is unpicked, washed or replaced, and basted back on.

This separation matters enormously for cleaning. A formal silk nagajuban can be dry-cleaned at long intervals because the visible point of contact with the body — the collar — is replaceable. The base collar of the nagajuban never touches the wearer’s skin or makeup directly. This is what makes the kimono layering system economically viable. The expensive layers stay clean; the cheap, replaceable layer absorbs the dirt.

For more on the cleaning cycle and the role of the han-eri in it, see our cleaning and storing guide.

Fabric choices for a nagajuban

The nagajuban fabric depends on what is going on top of it.

For a casual cotton or wool kimono, a cotton or polyester nagajuban is fine. The under-layer can be washed at home and does not need to match the formality of the outer kimono.

For a silk kimono — even an informal silk tsumugi — a silk or rayon nagajuban is conventional. The hand of silk against silk allows the outer kimono to slide over the under-layer cleanly during dressing, which matters for getting the eri-nuki (the collar pulled back away from the nape) into the correct position. Cotton nagajuban under silk kimono will cling and resist the outer layer, making dressing harder.

For yukata, no nagajuban at all. Yukata is worn next to skin (or, in modern practice, over a thin cotton vest and shorts).

A traditional silk nagajuban runs 200–400 USD ready-made. Sewing your own from 12 metres of habotai silk costs about half that and gives you a piece tailored to your measurements. For a first project, however, a polyester or rayon nagajuban is more forgiving — the cloth is uniform, the seams are stable, and the cost of a mistake is minimal.

Sleeve attachment: the underarm window

The nagajuban shares a structural detail with the women’s outer kimono that is worth understanding. The body and sleeves are joined at the shoulder seam but separated at the underarm — the miyatsuguchi (身八つ口) opening. This is the same vertical gap discussed in our men’s kimono proportions guide, and the structural reason is the same: the outer kimono’s obi needs to pass cleanly over the underarm, and the inner sleeve needs to swing forward through this opening without being caught.

On a men’s nagajuban, the underarm is sewn closed exactly as the outer men’s kimono is closed. The miyatsuguchi convention is women’s only.

Sewing vs buying: an honest assessment

There are three reasons to sew your own juban.

The first is fit. A nagajuban sewn to your own measurements will sit cleanly under your outer kimono without strange bunching, sleeve-end protrusion, or collar overlap problems. Ready-made nagajuban are sized to typical Japanese body proportions, and many Western sewers find off-the-rack juban too short in the sleeve or too narrow in the body.

The second is colour and pattern. The visible collar and sleeve lining of a nagajuban can be coordinated with your outer kimono in ways that off-the-rack nagajuban will not match. A nagajuban with a deep coral sleeve lining under a soft grey komon is a deliberate, considered aesthetic choice.

The third is the learning curve. Sewing a nagajuban is structurally similar enough to sewing the outer kimono that it makes an excellent intermediate project — easier than a formal kimono because the cloth is forgiving, harder than a hadajuban because the geometry is full-length.

There are also reasons to buy. Polyester nagajuban are cheap, durable, machine-washable, and structurally indistinguishable from silk ones at the layering level. If you are sewing your first outer kimono and want to focus your attention on the outer build, a polyester nagajuban purchased ready-made will not let you down. The 100–150 USD spent on a decent ready-made polyester nagajuban will probably save you 15 hours of sewing time you could spend on the outer garment instead.

The middle path is to buy a nagajuban now and sew one later, once your outer kimono is finished and you understand which colour and fabric choices would serve the visible-collar effect best.

The han-eri: a half-hour task on its own

Even if you buy the nagajuban, you should know how to replace the han-eri.

The han-eri is a strip of cloth approximately 110 cm long by 16 cm wide, folded in half lengthwise and basted to the base collar of the nagajuban with long, loose stitches. The standard cloth is plain white silk for formal wear, plain cotton or rayon for casual; embroidered or coloured han-eri are common for less formal occasions and for younger wearers.

Replacing a han-eri takes 20–30 minutes by hand. You pull out the basting on the old han-eri, fold the new one over the base collar with a centred pin, and baste it on with long stitches that catch only the base collar — not the body of the nagajuban. The basting need not be beautiful: it will be hidden under the outer kimono collar.

A box of fine cotton thread and a fine sashiko needle are all you need. The han-eri itself can be cut from any plain fabric remnant from your kimono projects, which keeps the under-layer colour-coordinated for free.

How the juban layer affects the outer kimono

A few practical points about how the under-layer changes how the outer kimono sits.

The collar of the nagajuban is pulled back at the nape by 3–7 cm depending on the wearer’s age and formality. This eri-nuki (collar pulled back) creates the open back of the neck that women’s kimono are designed around. The outer kimono’s collar then sits over the nagajuban collar with about 1 cm of the han-eri visible along the entire collar line.

The sleeve openings of the nagajuban and the outer kimono align. Because the nagajuban sleeves are slightly shorter in depth, the nagajuban sleeve hem sits about 1 cm above the outer kimono sleeve hem inside the sleeve, never protruding past it.

The body of the nagajuban gives the outer kimono something to grip. A silk kimono worn next to skin slides; over a silk nagajuban, it sits. This is the structural reason ready-made nagajuban are nearly always silk or silk-imitating: the friction matters.

What this guide does not cover

This guide explains what juban is and how the layering works. It does not draft a full nagajuban pattern (the Marshall book has a workable nagajuban draft, with the caveat that the sleeve drop is calibrated to the same body measurement as the outer kimono, so adjust accordingly). It does not cover the men’s juban formality grammar in detail. And it does not address children’s juban, which follow their own scaling logic — see our children’s kimono guide for the relevant pieces.

What this guide does is correct the most common misunderstanding about kimono layering: that the outer kimono is a single garment. It is not. It is the visible top of a three-layer system, and the under-layers do most of the work.

Figures

Bibliography

• Marshall, John. Make Your Own Japanese Clothes: Patterns and Ideas for Modern Wear. Kodansha International, 1988 (reprinted 2013). Amazon US
• Dobson, Jenni. Making Kimono and Japanese Clothes. Batsford / Bloomsbury, 2005. Amazon US
• Milhaupt, Terry Satsuki. Kimono: A Modern History. Reaktion Books, 2014. Amazon US
• Liddell, Jill. The Story of the Kimono. E.P. Dutton, 1989.
• Yamanaka, Norio. The Book of Kimono. Kodansha International, 1986.
• Wikipedia contributors. Juban. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juban
• Wikipedia contributors. Kimono. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimono

Related guides

• Yukata vs Kimono Construction
• Lining a Kimono: Awase vs Hitoe
• Cleaning and Storing a Hand-Sewn Kimono
• Men’s Kimono Proportions and Differences
• Kimono Formality Ranks: From Yukata to Uchikake
• Haori Jacket Construction

Last updated 2026-05-29. Komon Lab guides are free and released under CC-BY-4.0. If you used this guide for a project we would love to see it.