All I need are the wee little boots

[chamekke]

As some of you know, I study Japanese tea ceremony. This hobby requires me to wear kimono. Also, obi - that wide "sash" you see worn around the waist although IMHO a better descriptor would be waist trimming sauna belt, those suckers are HOT.

Anyway! Ichiroya is a second-hand online kimono and obi shop in Japan, and a good place to find affordable togs. I was idly browsing through today's offerings when I came across this little number in the obi section:



I thought, there's something eerily familiar about this, isn't there? So I looked at a close-up:



Extre-e-e-eme close-up:



Bingo!



o_0

0_o

To be honest ... if I could embroider a musketeer hat onto this thing, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.
 

Comments

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

So Margaret Keane was popular in Japan as well? *g*

I've never been lucky enough to try one on but I find Kimonos beautiful and fascinating. Do you have a favourite?

[chamekke.livejournal.com]

It is very Keane-esque, isn't it? *pets it cautiously*

My favourite kimono... hard to pick (and I don't have photos yet uploaded of all of them), but I like this blue-purple one very much. It shows kaioke baskets - kaioke was a shell-matching game that was be played in the New Year during the Heian period:



And this is a very retro kimono with small, stylized sparrows flying all over it:



As for kimonos that amuse me (but not enough to buy), this one appeared on Ichiroya and promptly passed into legend amongst kimono-loving folk:



And of course, if you're planning on some covert jungle operations...

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

The blue-purple one has a gorgeous background texture in it too and I love the sparrows. *g*


The last one now makes me want a remake of Rambo with really pissed off Geishas. Hey, let's make a Kickstarter campaign. :D

As to the Godzilla one, I remember deeply craving it when you first posted it. I'm trying to decide what the matching Obi might have on it. Mothra? The twins? Planes?

[chamekke.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of kimono I love for different reasons. Sometimes it's the background texture alone, where the kimono is made with rinzu (silk jacquard). For example, this "plain" kimono:



...has the most lovely woven design of "four-season flowers" (including maple leaves and pine boughs), meaning it can be worn at any time of the year:



I really like the bold, semi-abstract designs that were popular earlier in the 20th century. For exmaple, here's a kimono jacket with a design of boats and waves (seen from above):



Spider chrysanthemums:



Maple leaves:



And a modern-day yukata (cotton kimono for summer) with hydrangeas:



As to the Godzilla one, I remember deeply craving it when you first posted it. I'm trying to decide what the matching Obi might have on it. Mothra? The twins? Planes?

I've been looking for a real-life obi for ages to match it in my imagination. Sadly none of the ones you mention have shown up. (If I could design one, it'd probably have police cars running around the waist in a big, panicky circle.)

This is the best thing I can come up with, mainly because it would imply that Godzilla was menacing Mount Fuji and therefore symbolically ALL OF JAPAN OMG:



P.S. There was also a 2-piece "easy obi" I fell in love with - the fabric was the following all-over design. Sadly, it was in too poor condition to wear in real life, but here it might suit just fine:

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

I love both the wave idea and the panicky circle of police cars. :D

[severinne.livejournal.com]

I totally dropped in here to reminisce about the fucking amazing Godzilla kimono so I'm glad you already got around to sharing the photo.

The sparrow kimono is really lovely as well :)

[chamekke.livejournal.com]

*nods* That Godzilla kimono kicked ass. I'm still sorry I didn't have the $600-whatever to spend on it, as it would've been a hoot to wear.

Incidentally I was doing a search on Ichiroya for a suitable matching obi. No luck, but this came up under the search term 'scary'. It's a men's underkimono (meaning that no one but the wearer would ever see it):

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Those kimonos are gorgeous. I love it when historical items have been sympathetically brought up to date - it's the blend of old and new.

[chamekke.livejournal.com]

Most kimonos have traditional patterns or motifs - although every so often you get something a bit different, e.g. a traditional subject rendered in a modernistic fashion, or something completely new and weird (Godzilla!).

To me the older designs are most appealing, though. Not only are they visually striking, they're a door into Japanese culture.

However, the tricky bit about wearing kimono is rules, rules, rules! Some motifs are strictly seasonal and "shouldn't" be worn outside their season (or month). Then there are even MORE rules about fabric, colour, presence or absence of lining, sleeve length, and so on. These various factors (in combination) play into what time of year the item can be worn, who can wear it (young unmarried women vs. married ones), the formality of the occasion, etc.

For example, there's one specific type of kimono (kurotomesode) that is literally worn ONLY to a wedding, and then only by the mother of the bride or groom. Black, with family crests on the shoulders and nape; a lavish design rising from the hem; accompanied by a metallic gold brocade obi. Unless your kid remarries, you can expect to wear it only once in your life! Nowadays they're mostly rented :-)

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

That is fascinating. And those wedding kimonos are absolutely gorgeous. I can see a trip to the Victoria & Albert Museum in London next time I'm up there with time to spare.

It's the sort of subject that really appeals to me - very visual and yet with significant history attached.