A 68-year-old woman from Gifu Prefecture has been certified by Guinness World Records as having the world's largest collection of traditional kimono, at 3,045 pieces.
"I would like to put my collection on display to show people the beauty of kimono," Fukiko Higuchi said, adding that the recognition will be an opportunity to help revive the traditional garment's popularity, which has been declining in recent years.
It took Higuchi 13 years to assemble her collection, which she keeps in a 22-tatami-mat (33-sq.-meter) storage space near her house in the town of Ibigawa, Gifu Prefecture. She has sorted the kimono into seven chests of drawers made of paulownia wood, as well as onto racks of steel shelves.