Figure 1.--This primary (elelentary) school had a gakuran uniform for the bnoys. We think in ythe 1960s. I at first thiught the girls erte probanly sisters tagging along. But if you look closely there are quite a number of girls, all uniformed in a gakuran-like outfit. So this was probably a coed school. We think this is probably a private school, but most private schools at this time were single gender schools. A HBC reader has sent us a more detailed discussion of this image. .

This primary (elementary) school had a gakuran uniform for the bnoys. We think in ythe 1960s. I at first thiught the girls erte probanly sisters tagging along. But if you look closely there are quite a number of girls, all uniformed in a gakuran-like outfit. So this was probably a coed school. We think this is probably a private school, but most private schools at this time were single gender schools. Click on the image for a more detailed look at the pairing of these two styles.

Reader Comment

A HBC reader comments on the page, "The image here makes me think it is either the late-1950s or early 1960s because all the girls are wearing long stockings. You can see the garters on the two in the front row. I suspect the 1960s are more likely because the boys' shorts are very short as they were in the late-1960s and up to 2000s. I am not certain, but it is also possible that the boy in the front row is wearing white (stockings or maybe tights) as well as the boy to his left. If you look closely, that boy seems to not being wearing any socks which I doubt would have been the case then as you can see his ankles and they do not appear to have socks over them and I doubt he would have had turned down socks that would have been below the ankle (look at the other boys) However, for those two, it is too difficult to make out for sure that they are wearing white stockings or tights. If they are, it would be something that I saw in other images of boy's in Japan wearing white tights and girls black tights or stockings." Our reader adds, "As I stated in the email, I really could not tell for sure. What made it interesting to me was the fact that one child appeared to have very light colored legs (could have been the lighting) and the boy adjacent to him did not seem to be wearing socks which I suspect would have violated the dress code. In all the images I have seen of boys in Japan from that time period, I have never seen one without socks unless he was wearing tights."

HBC Assessment

Japanese children, including school children commonly wore long stockings. Tights appeared in the late-1950s and rapidly replaced the long stockings because of their greater practicality. They were worn seasonally, although formality bwas also a factor. The girls here will probably swith to knee socks when the weather warms up a bit. We don't think the boys here are weating long stockings or tights, but many Japanese bois did. Slightly younger boys may have. These boys look to be about 8-9 years old, the apptoximate age that Japanese boys ceased wering long stockingd or tights at the time. As our reader mnrbtiions, it is unlely the boy to the right is barefoot, especially by the 1969s. We suspect he is wearing Zōri (草履) sandals. Notice the double breasted outfits that the girls are wearing. Sailor outdits were common for girls. But we noticed that thus is a style often paired with gakuran at primary schools. Often the schools with gakuren were all boys schools, but as we see here this was a coed schools. Click on the image for a more detailed look at this pairing.

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Created: 4:53 PM 11/3/2020
Last updated: 4:53 PM 11/3/2020