Chawan

Our collection of chawan seems to be growing so quickly! Over the past week, we bought 6 more! Here are the ones we purchased:

Kohiki Hakeme Type Chawan

Zansetsu "Snow" Chawan. This one is my personal favorite.

Nezumi Chawan. The crackle design is supposed to mimic a turtle's shell. This one is Josh's favorite. 

Yellowish Haiyu (ash glaze) Hagi-yaki Chawan

Tenmoku (dark glaze that resembles oil-spotting) Kyo-yaki Chawan

Ippuku Shino Tataki Sakura Chawan

Blue Ro Iromuji

As I have just sold off about half of my ro and sha summer kimono (because they were too small), I needed to begin replacing them. I had been looking at these iromuji for a while now, and they dropped the price a little more since the last time I saw them. Their LL is one with a wider wingspan, so I finally jumped on it and bought this light blue iromuji. It will be nice to wear this summer to things such as tea ceremony, and it's washable! =D

Tea Ceremony Implements

Josh and I have been taking tea ceremony lessons for a little while and finally have been taught to perform the basic "tray ceremony", so we decided we'd like to be able to practice at home as well. We already own a chasen (as a part of a matcha gift set I bought years ago), fukusa, a tray, etc., but of course, we needed many other items. I let Josh pick out a few inexpensive things on eBay. Here's what he picked. =)

Interestingly lacquered natsume:

Summer chawan (very modern in design AND dishwasher safe XP):

Chashaku (black bamboo):

Naoshi (even lighter blue in reality):

He also picked out some matcha for us. I think he did well with a small budget! =) We hope to become more proficient with practice at home!

Pink Hydrangea Yukata

HOPEFULLY, this will be the last yukata purchase this season (I have been very bad!). For what the cost was to purchase each piece in this set individually, this was a great deal. I picked this pink hydrangea design with the pictured sky blue obi.

They also let you pick a deluxe item and two other items to add to the set. I chose the bag pictured below and they will send me a random obijime and obidome from the sets I picked.

Black Butterfly Yukata

I am very happy because a nice person on the IG forums posted a link to Ichiroya's recent postings of very large yukata (equivalent to TL size). The wingspans were 146cm with 172cm heights! Happy day! Of course, I couldn't let one of them go. They had this design with several different color variations, but the reddish color was my favorite. The black butterflies remind me of Yuko from xxxHolic so much! I may use it for an eventual Yuko cosplay ^_^.

Oh yeah, and GLITTER!! (close-ups, click to enlarge)

Stuff for Sale!

I am weeding out my kimono collection! I just put a bunch of things up on eBay. I am currently shipping to the USA and Canada only. (Send me a message if you want a different shipping method than the ones listed.)

Link to listings: http://www.ebay.com/sch/jadexcore51/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

Southern Motifs?

I was browsing some other kimono blogs lately, and this one caught my eye: The Great Lakes Kimono Revolution. While I don't personally agree with some of the things the author says about kitsuke, to each his/her own. However, the section on colors and motifs for each month/season got me thinking. The Southern United States really puts on a show as far as the plant life goes, so why not do a spot for each month/season featuring motifs native to this area? I may also note what weight kimono would be proper for our weather, as CLEARLY our weather here is much warmer than Japan. I'm going to do some research, and then I'll try to make this a regular page (with updates as we go along). Any suggestions (and photos, especially if it's of a motif on a kimono) are welcome. =)

2 New Pairs of LL Zori: Red and Purple

As the title suggests, I purchased two pairs of LL zori tonight. They're synthetic, so no worries about getting these babies wet. I tried to buy colors I don't have. Purple I definitely own none of. As for red, I own a more casual pair with red and blue hanao and a red base, but I needed all red for the Botan cosplay. Plus, they're pretty lol. Here they are:

 Simple, yet pretty. ^_^

2 New Men's Yukata, Matcha Hitoe Iromuji, and Polka Dot Hanhaba Obi

More buys to share! Josh keeps complaining that when we go to our tea ceremony lessons, he has to wear the same thing every time. Whether or not he admits it, he has the kimono bug! We got him two yukata. The first is an off white cotton hemp blend that, honestly, once you put a juban underneath and hakama on top, no one will know it isn't a summer weight kimono.

The second item I have to share is a really neat navy blue yukata with water, bubble, and koi pattern. I am honestly jealous that this isn't a women's kimono! He was especially excited about this one, so I cannot wait for him to try it on.

Next, the women's pieces. The first is a matcha green hitoe iromuji. Being the color of matcha and washable, this will be a great piece to wear for my tea ceremony lessons. =) Unlike all of my recent TL size pieces, this one is a 2L, BUT it has 140cm wingspan, so I can deal with 165 cm height (instead of 172 cm, but I can make a decent ohashori out of any kimono greater than 163 cm tall).

The last piece I have to share is a cute hanhaba obi. It's rose pink on one side with silver polka dots, and the other side is magenta with an asanoha pattern. I love the pop of color, as many of my items are of safer hues.