My Kimono Evolution

2015 is the 8th year I've been practicing kitsuke. At the end of 2007, I bought my first yukata, and then this thing we affectionately call the "kimono bug" bit me, and I've been hooked ever since! My reflection started as the result of a recent post on the IG Facebook page asking for us to show our early kitsuke and describe our improvements. This prompted me to take a look back at all 8 years and see what has changed. I'd like to share my journey with you.

END OF 2007

My first kitsuke ever. This was taken shortly after buying this yukata. Unfortunately, I have no full shots of this particular kitsuke attempt. I did research before buying the yukata on the old IG forums, and I remember using a shoe string to act as a koshi himo.

Positivity PSA

I wanted to make a post related to positivity in the kimono community, especially regarding those that are just getting into the hobby. As a nurse, we often hear of other nurses “eating their young”, and I have sadly seen it happen quite a bit with kimono fans as well. Not everyone is this way of course. I have seen some people being wonderful ambassadors. We are not going to get and keep people interested in kimono if we are bringing them down for not knowing all of the intricate rules and not having a vast collection with tons of coordination possibilities; these things take a long time. I am not saying that we should abandon educating newcomers. They often are seeking knowledge, but they don’t know the questions to ask. As the saying goes, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” When we do educate them, we need to be tactful and encouraging. We need to watch over our beginners, offer constructive criticisms when warranted, and let them know that we have been in their shoes. I’m sure everyone reading this has had a point in their lives where someone told them that they cannot do something, that they are not good enough, or that they failed. Remember how that felt? Do you really want someone else to feel that way? We need to remind ourselves of their skill level and accommodate for that. We all were beginners once. Let’s try to offer more compliments than criticisms, and most of all, let’s be kind to one another. In the age of the Internet, supposed anonymity has turned more than a few people into cruel creatures. Don’t let yourself become that person. 

A Weekend of Chanoyu

This past weekend, I was entirely immersed in chanoyu! On Saturday, our sensei was in town for a day of lessons, and to my surprise, his parents were visiting as well. His mother is an Urasenke master, and she personally gave me a lesson in preparing koicha. It was quite an interesting lesson, as my Japanese is very poor, and her English is minimal. Surprisingly, I did pick up on quite a bit of what she was saying, but I believe all of the pantomiming helped!

As usual, I wore kimono to practice, so here is my ensemble: a yellow-beige sha komon with tsubaki pattern, raspberry color ro nagoya obi with tsuyu-shiba design, white ro obiage with yellow shibori dots, and yellow summer obijime.

On Sunday, my dear friend held a private gathering in her personal tea room. She was the host for the first part of the gathering, and then my sensei's mother hosted the second half. It was such an honor to be able to attend! The ensemble I chose to wear was a sky blue ro iromuj, pale lavender fukuro obi with uroko design, navy tate-ro obiage, and mint summer obijime.

KdJ Memphis, June 2015: Jun Kaneko Exhibit

This past Thursday, my husband, my friend Shay, and I went to see the work of Jun Kaneko at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens for our Kimono de Jack Memphis outing. Shay and I both work kimono, of course!

She wore her lovely vintage hitoe komon and borrowed an obi and komono from my collection. If that kimono were larger, I'd definitely steal it! The pictures don't do it justice. 

My ensemble was a black ro komon with a whirlpool and zakuro (pomegranate) design. The obi is cream colored ro with a lantern (or a case could be made for moon) design. Both of us opted for cool blue accessories. Shay was much more modern with her styling, and as usual, I stuck to a more classical kitsuke.

June Kitsuke - Blue Cotton Komon

I had to help my sister run her booth at a comic book expo today, so I decided to wear this cotton komon that has been sitting in storage for some time. When I purchased it, the seller advertised it as a yukata. It is likely cotton, but much softer than any yukata. It also has hiro eri (wide collar that must be folded for wear). It is not sheer like sha or ro, but not as opaque as regular hitoe. Since the traditional calendar says that you don't switch to ro and sha until at least June 15, it really is the perfect "in-between" kimono.

First Yukata Kitsuke of 2015

My new yukata arrived yesterday, so I did a quick coordination with it. I used a black hanhaba obi with a shibori tatewaku pattern on it. It's rather short so the musubi is kind of small. I added a little dragonfly obi kazari and posed with my new woven bag. (Please ignore my hair and makeup, because it's just what I had on from work that day.)

 I'm so glad that warm weather is finally here, and I can do more kitsuke such as this!

New Bag and Ombré Hanhaba Obi

I keep adding more things to my summer collection! I blame The New Kimono for this; if you haven't read it, skim the section on summer accessories and you'll know why I have issues... Anyway, I finally found a hemp ombré obi that I like. Too many of them have multiple colors, which is fine except that it makes it much harder to coordinate, and they're often quite costly. On top of that, I really wanted a one in green as my other is kind of a pain in the butt... 

I am honestly quite happy that there's a yellow tone to this obi because it contrasts with the colors of my summer kimono and yukata better than blue tones. 

I also had a lucky find! Kururi had a new woven bag up this year that I completely adore but it was a little pricey for me at almost 20,000 yen. At the same shop where I found the ombré obi, I saw this bag and didn't hesitate to purchase it! 

It's almost exactly the same as the Kururi one, and it was only one-fourth of the cost! It was the last they had in this style, so I'm assuming the price was dropped for that reason since no damage was noted (they had an original list price closer to the Kururi bag). 

Several weeks ago, I also purchased a new ro juban. This one is semi-custom sized, so I will finally have a summer juban that isn't too small. I hope it will arrive in time for my first summer kitsuke opportunity!