Memphis Japan Festival 2018

After a few years hiatus, the Memphis Japan Festival returned! I had two coordinations for the festival as I did dance as well as tea ceremony. I wore a lilac summer iromuji for my sadō presentation, which was first in the morning, and then I switched to my handmade yukata for bon odori. 

I don't have the pictures here, but the baby got to wear his "yukata" one last time before he outgrew it. I guess I'll need bigger sizes for him soon!

Memphis Kimono Seasonality

Inspired by this article and a recent conversation on the Immortal Geisha Facebook page, I made my own seasonality chart for the area in which I live (Memphis, Tennessee, USA), with the traditional calendar for comparison. The traditional calendar simply does not work for my area, and it is difficult to follow in Japan these days due to a warmer overall climate.

Memphis vs. Traditional Kimono Seasonality Chart
(click to enlarge)

As you can see, the usumono season is much longer here than the traditional Japanese season. To be frank, the hitoe season might be even earlier in March and later in November in my area. I also left a little more grey area in between seasons because our temperatures can fluctuate so much. This year, we have temperatures around 30 degrees Celsius in late September, but only a few years ago, it was more like 15-20 degrees C. The beginning and tail end of seasons are so unpredictable!

So, what does the seasonality chart look like for your area?