Erikae Observations

(Source: http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/m12212356movie/31352359.html)

As I was flipping through images on a website about geiko, I kept noticing some girls with purple obijime for erikae (the geiko's debut). I guess that intrigued me, so I decided to look up what girls in different districts wore for erikae. They all had the same general presentation, but it was mostly the obijime and obiage that differentiated the districts.

Common factors:

• Black formal hikizuri
• Gold base obi
• Red nagajuban with gold design
• Geta (Usually senryou style, but could be toothed. A few wore zori for rainy weather.)
• White embroidered haneri
• Bekko and tama kanzashi
• Katsura with metal "wings" in back

District-specific factors (most common presentation):

• Gion Kobu (example - Kyouka)
• Red obiage with white or metallic embroidery
• White obijime
• Pontocho (example - Ichino)
• Red shibori obiage
• Purple obijime
• Miyagawacho (example - Toshimana)
• Plain red chirimen obiage
• Purple obijime
• Kamishichiken (example - Katsuru)
• Red shibori obiage
• White obijime
• Gion Higashi
• Not enough evidence to speculate

Unique factors (attributed to personal style preferences or unknown factors):

• Fukue (Miyagawacho) wore white obijime.
• Ichimomo (Kamishichiken) wore a white obiage with red embroidery.
• Hanao (shoe straps) were generally white or light pink with metallic underside, but some wore red.
• Some had a kanzashi unique to them (ex. Ayano with rose maezashi kanzashi)

If you have any other observations you'd like to share, please leave a comment!

Nanten Obi and Tatewaku Obi

I've been behaving relatively well on the kimono buying front, but I had to have these two obi. The first is a cream nagoya obi with nanten design. As far as I undertand, nanten is acceptable to wear November through February. I'd like to try to pair it with the snowflake komon in the previous post.

The second obi is a gold zentsuu fukuro obi with tatewaku design (this one was for dance). I actually plan on turning this one into a pre-tied darari obi for my geiko henshin group, Tsuki no Ie. I'll post pics when it's done.

Snowflake Semi-custom Kimono

Well, after looking at this fabric for over a year, I decided to buy it. Being on sale helped the decision. It's pale purple with a snowflake pattern.

Considering I own nothing with a winter motif, I finally broke when I saw there was only enough for one kimono left. It was a semi-custom order, so the seller will be making it into TL size for me. I also asked them to make it awase and chose a darker purple colored fabric for the hem lining. Because the pattern isn't particularly bold, I should be able to wear it for chaji this next year.

Updates to Helpful Hints

You may have noticed a few extra links in the sidebar to the right. I have added a page on sizing kimono and one on where to buy kimono. I hope you will find these helpful!

Obi Prize from Furicle - Kitsuke Photos

On Saturday, the obi I won from Furicle arrived. Part of the contest deal was that I had to take pictures wearing the obi for them. I paired it with this pine, pagoda, and bridge tsukesage.

Nicer obijime

After trying to coordinate my new obi last night, I found that I have very few formal obijime. So, I decided to see what I could find on Rakuten and scored these two for only ¥1,050! (As you can see by the tags, they were originally ¥15,750 - 93% off!)

I'm hoping to use the green one with the aforementioned obi, but sadly, it won't be here before my pictures are due to Furicle.

I Won an Obi!!

I'm not usually very lucky when it comes to contests, but this past week, I won an obi from Kimono Furicle's weekly giveaway! It's a beautiful kiku and momji obi:

I have to send them a photograph of me wearing it within one week since I received it today. I can't wait to coordinate with it! =D

Germantown International Festival

This weekend was the annual Germantown International Festival. Josh and I went to help out the Japanese teachers from the University with their booth. Here's a few pics we took (mostly my outfit, courtesy of Josh). Enjoy!

Yellow Sha Hanhaba Obi and Leaf Zori

Summer's end isn't too far away, so stores are starting to put last season's items on sale. For whatever reason, I have wanted a sha or ro hanhaba obi. One of my favorite sellers on Rakuten had this one marked down 70%! I was very pleased ^_^. It's pale yellow sha with an ichimatsu design.

They also have two other designs and four other colors. It should be here in time for me to enjoy before the summer is over.

Also, I have been meaning to get new zori for some time now, but with large Western feet, I often cannot find zori for a decent price. Kimono Machi has had these for a while, but I didn't bite until now. My new pretties!

There was also a pair of baby pink zori that were the same size and only slightly more expensive that I pondered, but I have many more occasions to wear kimono casually than I do formally, and those would have seen little use. These will be perfect for autumn, but the pastel colors also would work for spring.

Blue Edo Komon

It's been a while, but since I've gotten rid of many kimono (and there's still more to go!), I bought myself a new one. This is a pale blue Edo komon. I fell in love with it ages ago, but never bought it because 1. I had too many kimono, and 2. It was too expensive. The price didn't drop much, but I had credits saved up in my account, so it suddenly became doable and thus mine!

Break for Cosplay

Lately, I've taken a little bit of a hiatus with kimono for two reasons: 1. We aren't doing any tea ceremony lessons this summer, which is the most common reason I wear kimono, and 2. I've been working on cosplays. If any of you are interested in cosplay, I invite you to follow me on Facebook at Asagiri Cosplay.

"Cami Sits on Things" Blog

My twin sister just created a blog for her cat Cami - who likes to sit on everything. It's quite hilarious ^_^.

Please enjoy: http://camisitsonthings.blogspot.com

Gofuku no Hi

May 29 was Gofuku no Hi (also known as "Wear Kimono Day"). I didn't have much time to really do any kitsuke, but in the spirit of the day, I threw on a yukata and made Japanese food for dinner.

 I made poteto korokke, and it was so good! It's only my second time making it. =)

Summer 2013 Kimonomachi Yukata

Well, I waited until this free international shipping campaign on Rakuten to buy a yukata from the new summer collection by Kimonomachi. I really had many that I liked, but I decided to go with the one most different from the yukata I already own. I picked the orange morning glory yukata with a blue reversible obi (one side is a whirlpool design; the other is goldfish). I also got a cream colored bag and light green geta (for a different yukata), along with a random obikazari. I can't wait til it all arrives!!

Awase, Hitoe, Ro... - When is the proper time to switch?

Japan has rules for everything. And I mean EVERYTHING! Kimono is certainly no exception to this. Traditionally, one wears awase (lined kimono) the majority of the year. In June and September, one wears hitoe (unlined kimono), and in July and August, one wears open weaves like ro and sha. The chart below puts it neatly together:

However, if you don't live in an area with a climate similiar to Japan, it can be very uncomfortable to stick with these rules. For example, I live in the Southern United States, and our climate isn't exactly comparable. This year, it's already been up to 85F in April. Just based on temperature, that's ro/sha weather.

So what do you do then? No one wants to look like they don't know what they're doing, but you don't want to die from heat stroke either. My take? Do what is comfortable. Explain if you have to. But don't kill yourself! While I haven't gotten to ro/sha just yet, I have been wearing some hitoe, depending on the weather of the day. For example, it was 60F when I went to tea ceremony the other day, and I wore awase. But a few weeks ago it was 80F, and I wore hitoe, even though it was early April. I'm not bold enough to switch to ro/sha until it becomes muggy (like it does every summer here). But you can bet that by the end of May, I'll probably be in ro/sha. And I'll probably be wearing it through September, since it doesn't turn cooler until October around here.

SUPER LONG Zentsuu Fukuro Obi!

A lovely person on  the Immortal Geisha forums posted a link to two zentsuu fukuro obi on eBay with some very nice length for us Western sized people. The first had a butterfly pattern, but looked more like a share fukuro obi. The second was this lovely black and silver botan pattern obi. So, you know what I did...

It's 190 inches long!! And the silvery thread dresses it up more than other one. Also, I've seen quite a few modern ensembles lately that make use of predominantly black obi like this, and they look so chic!

Pink (REAL) Shibori Kimono and Lavender Hakata Obi

I have recently been looking all over for a full REAL shibori kimono. The problems I kept running into were that they were: 1. Printed, not the real tie-dye technique, 2. Too short, and 3. Very expensive. I got super lucky when I ran across this baby! Real shibori, 173 cm tall, and $30! Win!!!

I also picked up this lavender summer hakata obi. It's been about 80˚F here lately! That's above average even for us, so I guess I was thinking summer when I bought this obi.

Hanami 2013

Last weekend was absolutely beautiful, and the sakura have finally bloomed, so we went hanami at the Memphis Botanic Garden. My friend Heidi got the opportunity to wear her new pink kimono. She's 6 feet tall, so we aren't able to make an ohashori, but it was pretty nonetheless. My sister let me dress her, and she did things a little Western style by wearing white strappy sandals and a big pink floppy hat! ^_^ Josh also wore kimono - his pale blue kimono with hakama. I wore my black sakura houmongi to blend in with the trees XD. We had a picnic in the pavillion and even had some onlookers take some photos of us! We had a great time!