While visiting the Shinto shrines, you can’t help but notice the girls dressed in white shirts and bright red hakama. They are miko - shrine maidens - and their uniform is one of the few cases when the Japanese women are wearing this kind of clothes.

But their hakama is different from the samurai hakama: while the former is made with divided legs (called umanori style), because it was originally used for horse-riding, the hakama worn by the miko is like a skirt (called andon style). However, on first sight, both types look very similar…

Miko, Hotoku Ninomiya Shrine, Odawara

EXIF Info:

Yesterday’s Japan Photo: The streams of the Japanese gardens