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In Kyoto, there are plenty of maiko henshin (or maiko makeover) studios where (presumably) female tourists can pay to be made up and dressed to look like a maiko (apprentice geisha).

What options are available for men in Kyoto? Are there any commonly available options apart from dressing up as a samurai?

Studio shoot versus going outdoors isn't a major consideration - either's fine.

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    I'm confused about what the question is exactly. Can you provide some link or some further explanation? Where do "samurais" come in to this?
    – Berwyn
    Jul 24, 2016 at 19:48
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    @AndrewGrimm I assume you mean something like this? maiko-henshin.com/en
    – The Wandering Coder
    Jul 25, 2016 at 0:35
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    That website is a photo studio specialising in Maiko / Geisha - style photographs. You will notice the most time you can walk around freely on any plan is 20 mins. From what I have seen, male options are somewhat limited to what you refer to as "Samurai" style as found for example here kyoto-maiko.com/English. You also haven't specified if you are looking just for photos or if you intend to walk around. The available options change considerably between the two. If you are just looking to hire the Kimono / Yukata, then there are standard Kimono / Yukata options for males.
    – The Wandering Coder
    Jul 25, 2016 at 1:13
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    Not sure if this is something that would be of interest- but there are some tours that involve dressing as a ninja and either poking about in the outdoors or in an urban setting. Pretty silly but it might be memorable.
    – Spehro Pefhany
    Jul 25, 2016 at 5:10
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    Have you thought about just doing the geisha makeover? :)
    – El Bromista
    Sep 1, 2016 at 17:24

2 Answers 2

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If you go to Toho Uzumasa Eigamura in Kyoto, you can dress like a ninja along with other samurai, royalty, and townsperson variations. There are even European royalty (as imagined by shojo manga) variations.

Toho Eigamura

http://www.toei-eigamura.com/event/detail/53

After you get dressed up, they take your photo in the shop and then you can walk around the theme park, which is the actual movie sets for Toho Studios for their jidaigeki (Tokugawa/samurai) films.

I linked to the Japanese site above as it has photos of the costumes available, which the English site doesn't.

Note: there's an entry fee to the theme park in addition to the costume and makeup fee.

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    For those unfamiliar with the term, shojo manga means manga aimed at teen girls. anime.stackexchange.com/questions/22823/…
    – Andrew Grimm
    Sep 8, 2016 at 22:33
  • Kinda sad I didn't get more clarifications, but you did get accepted, so bounty for you!
    – JS Lavertu
    Sep 9, 2016 at 2:30
  • Happy to add anything if you want further clarification. Thanks for the bounty too!
    – RoboKaren
    Sep 9, 2016 at 7:33
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It seems that many of the kimono rental shops that cater to women also carry men's kimono.

For example:

Okamoto Kimono offers large selection of kimono including formal, long-sleeved or hakama for rental. enter image description hereenter image description here

Kyoto Kimono Rental and Yumeyakata also offer similar plans.

There are other shops that may fit your needs better, I encourage you to search online.

Note: I am not affiliated with any of these sites, nor have I ever used their service. Make sure to contact them to make sure that the service is in fact available.

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