What to Wear to Hatsumōde in Tokyo

Packing philosophy

Dress for the queue. Meiji Jingu stays open all night on 31 December and says its grounds are busiest from 10pm to 3am and after 10am on the first three days of January, and that is when most of Tokyo comes. The Japan Meteorological Agency gives January 9.8°C by day and 1.2°C at dawn, with rain on only 4.5 days and 192.6 hours of sun, and its ten-day normal for 1 to 10 January drops the minimum to 1.5°C. An hour standing on gravel near freezing is colder than any walk. So the coat reaches below the knee, a down liner goes under it for the midnight queue, and the knit is thick. At the hall you bow twice, clap twice and bow once, so mittens come off in one move and the bag hangs across your body.

What the dress code actually is

Meiji Jingu publishes no formal dress code, but its visitor guidance asks you to come "参拝にふさわしい服装で", in clothing suited to worship, and a long coat and scarf already meet it. The Japan National Tourism Organization's guide to shrine and temple customs says kimono is not required, and most visitors wear winter coats. If you want to wear kimono, rent a lined winter kimono with a haori jacket from a rental shop that dresses you, wear the collar left over right, and put thermals underneath; it is welcome at a shrine, and nobody will mind a foreign visitor in one. Leave the costume-shop version and the red hakama of the shrine's own attendants alone. The etiquette matters more than the clothes: rinse your hands at the water basin, bow at the torii, walk to the side of the path, and at the hall bow twice, clap twice and bow once.

The capsule

1. 
   01

   Plum wool-cashmere coat, below the knee

   An hour in the queue at 1.5°C is where a hip-length jacket fails, and a coat below the knee covers your legs. Wool-cashmere keeps its heat when you stand still. Plum is a colour Tokyo wears in winter, dark enough for a shrine and warmer than black in photographs by the torii.

2. 
   02

   Oatmeal cable Aran crew sweater

   A thick cable knit traps warm air under the coat in a still, dry cold. Oatmeal lightens the plum at the collar and looks right on its own at a New Year lunch, when the coat comes off.

3. 
   03

   Heather-oat wool pleated trousers, turn-ups

   Wool trousers with room for thermal leggings, since JMA counts 8.1 January mornings below freezing. Pleats keep the line straight over the extra layer, and turn-ups sit neatly on the boot.

4. 
   04

   Dark brown leather Chelsea boots

   Over the New Year days you take your shoes off at restaurants, ryokan and homes, and a Chelsea boot comes off without unlacing. Leather keeps your feet warm on the gravel approach. Dark brown goes with plum and oat.

5. 
   05

   Deep plum lambswool long scarf

   Wind it twice in the midnight queue and once in the morning sun. The gap at the collar is where the cold gets in when you stand still, and a long lambswool scarf closes it. A shade darker than the coat, it reads tone on tone.

6. 
   06

   Heather-grey felted wool mittens

   Mittens are warmer than gloves in a queue, and they come off in one move at the hall, where you clap bare-handed. Tuck them in a pocket for the bow and put them back on before you step aside.

7. 
   07

   Black collarless quilted down liner jacket

   The layer for the busiest hours, 10pm to 3am, when you stand in line through the coldest part of the night. A collarless down liner zips under the coat without bulk and comes out again for a sunny 10°C afternoon on the 2nd.

8. 
   08

   Small taupe structured flap crossbody

   Both hands have to be free: for coins at the offering box, for the clap, and for an omamori or omikuji afterwards. A small crossbody sits in front of you in the crowd. Taupe sits between the oatmeal knit and the brown boots.

A suggested look — plum long wool coat, oatmeal cable aran sweater, oat wool trousers, dark brown chelsea boots, plum wool scarf.

What to avoid

• Full hands at the offering hall
• A short jacket for the midnight queue
• Snow boots and a rain shell
• Laced boots in a shoes-off week
• Costume kimono or a shrine attendant's red hakama