Overview
A yukata is a single-layer cotton robe cut like a kimono but plain and easy to wear. Traditionally dyed in indigo and white, it needs no lining, no under-robe, and no elaborate obi, which makes it the everyday garment of summer.
How it is worn
It is wrapped left over right like any kimono and tied with a simple obi — a soft one for women, a narrow one for men — worn over bare skin or light underwear. It is standard dress at summer festivals, fireworks displays, and hot-spring inns.
History
The yukata began in the Heian period as a bathing robe of hemp called yukatabira, and in the Edo period, as public bathhouses spread and cotton became cheap, it turned into casual after-bath and summer wear for townspeople. It remains the one kimono that most Japanese still wear.