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?

Casual Hitoe Tsumugi Ensemble

Today, I met with a friend for tea, so I chose casual ensemble: a grey striped tsumugi hitoe with summer accessories. It's already hot enough for full ro/sha here, but I decided to stick slightly closer to the traditional calendar by continuing to wear hitoe today. Despite the heat and humidity being so high, this kimono kept me pretty cool!

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.

Hitoe Season Comes Early in Memphis

As often is the case in the Southern USA, warm temperatures come quite early here in Memphis. This weekend, it was over 80 degrees F, and wearing awase in that kind of heat (and with rampant humidity!) can be torture. Outside of Japan, it's a little easier to not follow the traditional rules of awase, hitoe, and usamono. By Japanese standards, I shouldn't switch until mid-May to hitoe. But with it being as hot as it was, I went ahead and wore hitoe this past Saturday.

This hitoe komon has a geometric design, and I paired it with a simple green and cream hakata nagoya obi. The accessories are a purple and orange obiage with wisteria embroidery and a lighter purple obijime.

Thanks for looking!