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?

Ume and Leaves Share Fukuro Obi

I purchased this share fukuro obi this morning. I was immediately drawn to it because of the simple, clean, modern design. It's really rare to see stitching like this as well. I'm a little stumped as to what the seasonal range of this obi is though.

Design on tare

Close-up of design on tare

Front design

It's got ume stitched in white - which is a February motif. But the leaves are what's confusing me. I think of the leaves on this one as new, budding leaves (recalling early spring), but because of its modern look, it's hard to pin everything down. Do you think its seasonality could be extended from just February? I'm thinking it can, but I'm unsure. Input is appreciated!

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.