Dakimakura, Explained Properly

Dakimakura is a Japanese word built from two others. Daki, to embrace, and makura, pillow. An embracing pillow. That is the whole translation, and it explains the object better than any product description.

In practice a dakimakura is a long pillow, usually about 150 by 50 cm, with a printed cover that slides off. Two separate things are involved and people often buy them at different times. The inner pillow, called the insert, is plain and does the hugging. The cover is printed, and it is the part almost everyone is actually shopping for.

Where the format came from

Long pillows existed in Japan as ordinary comfort items for people who sleep on their side, with an arm and a leg thrown over the top. Printed covers came later. Once a character could be printed full length at roughly life size, the cover became the reason to own one rather than an accessory to it.

It is not only an anime thing

The format is strongly associated with illustration, and most covers sold anywhere in the world carry a character on them. But the pillow does not care what is printed on it. A photograph of a partner, a pet at full stretch, a plain colour, a pattern, a brand mascot: the fabric and the seams are identical.

The rest of this page is the practical part. Sizes and how to match a cover to an insert, what the two common fabrics feel like, what an insert is worth paying for, and what happens if you want one printed with something of your own.

Four sizes cover almost everything on the market. The differences are small on paper and large in a bed.

• 150 by 50 cm. The common standard outside Japan and the size we print. Long enough to hug properly, short enough to fit a single bed without hanging off.
• 160 by 50 cm. The Japanese standard. Ten centimetres longer, which sounds trivial until you try a 150 cover on a 160 insert and it will not close.
• 120 by 40 cm. A smaller format, easier in a shared bed and cheaper to ship.
• 100 by 35 cm. Closer to a large cushion than a body pillow. Popular as a desk or sofa piece.

The cover and the insert have to match

This is the most common mistake and it is not forgiving. A cover that is too big wrinkles across the print, and a face printed across a wrinkle looks wrong in a way that is hard to ignore. A cover that is too small stretches the fabric and pulls the artwork out of shape, worst of all across the widest part, which is usually where the face is.

If you already own an insert, measure it before ordering anything. Lay it flat, do not squash it, and measure the seams rather than the stuffed middle. If you are buying both at once this does not apply, because they are made to match.

If you are drawing for it

150 by 50 is a 3 to 1 ratio. Art drawn at any other ratio has to be cropped or padded, and cropping a full body character almost always costs you the feet or the top of the head. Working at 3 to 1 from the first sketch removes that problem entirely.

Nearly every dakimakura cover sold is one of two fabrics. Most guides compare them on print quality. That matters, and it is covered on our covers page, but it is not what you notice after a month.

Peach skin

Matte, soft, very slightly brushed, a little like fine suede. It breathes, which is the part people underrate. A face against it on a warm night does not get clammy the way a synthetic gloss does.

It also forgives. Small marks do not show, it survives being sat on and dragged around, and it does not need special handling in the wash. If you are buying a cover you intend to actually sleep against every night rather than display, this is usually the right answer.

2 way tricot

Smooth, cool to the touch, slightly glossy, and stretchy in both directions. Colours sit brighter on it and fine line work stays sharper, which is why most character art is printed on it.

The costs are real and worth knowing before you buy. It shows marks more readily, it needs a laundry bag in the machine, and because it stretches, pulling it tight over a firm insert shifts the print slightly. On a full body character that shift lands across the middle of the design.

What both share

Both are fully opaque, so the insert never shows through. Both close with a hidden zip along one long edge. Both are double stitched at the seams, and both wash cold on a gentle cycle.

People research covers for hours and then buy whatever insert is cheapest. Six months later the pillow is flat in the middle and the cover looks baggy, and the cover gets blamed.

What is inside one

Most inserts are filled with polyester fibre, which is light, cheap and washable. The difference between a good one and a poor one is the amount of fibre and how evenly it is distributed. A heavier insert holds its shape for years. A light one compresses where your arm goes and never fully recovers.

Firm or soft

Firmer inserts hold a printed design flatter, which is what you want if the pillow is mostly on display. Softer inserts are better to actually sleep against but let the print curve away from the eye. Neither is wrong. It depends on whether you are buying a thing to look at or a thing to hold.

Keeping it alive

Take the insert out of the cover every few weeks, hold it at both ends and shake it along its length. That redistributes the fibre and does more for the life of the pillow than anything else. If your insert has gone permanently flat, replace it and keep the cover. The cover is the expensive part and it usually outlives two inserts.

People who sleep on their side

The original use and still a large share of buyers. An arm over the top and a knee resting on it changes how a side sleeper lies, and plenty of people who have never watched an anime in their life own one for exactly this reason.

Artists printing their own characters

An illustrator with an original character and a folder of finished art, who wants one physical copy, or a small run to sell at a convention table. This is the group that runs into minimum order rules hardest.

People who commissioned art

You paid an artist, you own the piece, and it lives in a folder. Printing it at 150 cm is the most physical thing you can do with a commission.

Couples who live apart

A photograph rather than an illustration, printed at close to life size. It is a quieter use of the format than the collector one, and a steady share of what we print.

Collectors

People who own several covers and rotate them, treating the insert as the fixed part and the cover as the thing that changes. This is also the group most likely to care about fabric, because they have compared.

A dakimakura cover takes more skin contact than anything else in a bedroom, so it needs washing more often than people expect. Every two to three weeks in daily use is a reasonable rhythm.

• Take the insert out and turn the cover inside out before it goes in
• Cold water, gentle cycle, mild detergent, never bleach
• Air dry if you can, or tumble on the lowest heat your machine has
• Never put an iron on the printed face

Sunlight is the quiet killer

Washing gets the attention, but the covers that fade first are the ones that sit in a sunny window all day. If your bed is under a window, turning the pillow occasionally evens the exposure out.

Two covers, one insert

The advice every long term owner gives. One on the pillow, one in the wash. It costs less than replacing a cover you wore out by never letting it rest, and it is the reason the cover only market exists at all.

This page is the overview. These go deeper on the decision you are actually making.

• Anime body pillows, art guidance for character illustration printed at full length
• Waifu pillows, designing or commissioning a female character for a 3 to 1 frame
• Anime guy body pillows, the male side, and why almost nobody stocks them
• Dakimakura covers, the cover alone, and how to measure an insert you already own
• Custom dakimakura printing, resolution, bleed and what we can legally print
• Custom body pillows, the same format printed with a photograph rather than illustration