“Stupid rumours!” Kazumi exclaimed, as she fiddled with the belt. Noriko shook her head and started adjusting it for her.

“What?” Akiko didn’t follow.

“Well, people say women don’t wear underwear under a kimono. I’m wearing more underwear than I normally wear overwear.”

“Kazumi, that doesn’t make sense.”

“I’m already up to four layers!”

“Oh, I see.” Akiko couldn’t help smiling.

“I did say I wasn’t naturally cylindrical,” Noriko reminded her. “There, that’s right now. Were you paying attention?”

“Yes, thank you.” Kazumi was looking down at her belt as she said it, but her hands were fumbling round the back for the strip of cloth attached to the collar. “And we pull this down to make the opening, right?”

“Yes. Not that hard!” Noriko quickly grabbed Kazumi’s collar. “Look.” She turned around, showing them the way her collar stood away from her neck. “You want to do it about this much. You’ll probably have to fix it again after you put the kimono on, but get it right to start with.” Akiko tugged at her own strip, peering over her shoulder at the mirror. Noriko came over to check her, and Kazumi started trying to walk.

“It’s tight!” she exclaimed. “How am I supposed to walk in this?”

“Small steps. It’s ladylike,” Noriko replied, somewhat absently, as she tugged on bits of Akiko’s underwear. The top layer of the underwear, the nagajuban, was almost a kimono in itself. Actually, Akiko couldn’t see a big difference between it and the hakui that was part of the miko vestments, except that the material was a bit lighter, and it was wrapped rather tighter.

“Hmph.” Kazumi wasn’t impressed. She twisted to inspect herself in the mirror. “How, exactly, do I go to the toilet in this?”

“Basically the same way as in a dress,” Noriko said.

“And I can see my panty line.”

“Kazumi,” Akiko said, “stop moaning.”

“Well I can,” Kazumi repeated. “I’m sure it shouldn’t look like that.”

“You’re wearing the wrong sort of knickers,” Noriko said. “T-backs, shorts type.” She paused, and sighed. “Or none. But I think you knew that.”

“Aha!” Kazumi was grinning. “Well, let’s see how it looks.”

“No,” Noriko said. “You’ll get it all messed up, and we’ve only just got it right.”

“So how am I supposed to go to the toilet?”

“You learn how to fix it. Or don’t wear knickers in the first place. OK, Akiko, you’re right now. Have a look.”

Kazumi was posing for the mirror now, trying out her geisha look.

“Are we actually going to put kimono on today?” she asked.

Akiko was trying to walk in the nagajuban, and it was a bit harder than she’d expected. The material was tight all the way down to her ankles, and she could only take very small steps.

“I don’t think we have time,” Noriko said. “Next time, when you are a bit more familiar with the underwear.”

“OK. Well, I’m going to go and try walking,” Kazumi said.

“Oh no you don’t!” Noriko replied, catching her arm. “You’re in your underwear. Do you normally walk around in your underwear? Don’t answer that. You aren’t walking around in this underwear.” Kazumi was pouting, but Akiko was grinning as she looked at herself in the mirror.

It looked right, somehow.

Posted by David Chart on Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 at 12:00.