I can’t help it, but I spotted a gorgeous summer kimono before I left Yokohama. The woman in the photo was in front of me going down in an escalator. She is an instructor of kouta (a traditional form of Japanese singing) and shamisen (three strings). Maybe, I should create another blog spot just for kimono.
If you look closely, you can see through. The top left, you can see a geometric hemp-leaf design beside a morning glory. The hemp-leaf design is very popular classic Japanese design, and I love it. But about ten years ago, I found out that hemp was a family of marijuana plant. So, I used to give this interesting information to Japanese hoping to surprise them, but nobody reacted to it. They were probably annoyed with that information. Well, I’m not going to censor it on my blog.
Do you see a small fan sticking out from the top right of her obi?
Above, a small embroidered pouch of fragrance is hanging from her pink obi band, and a light pink obi-scarf shows a little at the top of the obi.
A summer obi. The design of water flowing and bent pointed leaves
9 comments:
Forgive me for a male angle on this, but your talk of a see-through kimono has me wondering about the allure of the female kimono to the opposite sex. You mention that the wearer of the gorgeous item was a teacher of traditional Japanese arts, but I wonder how many “ordinary women” will wear the outfit when strolling through airports or shopping malls, and what message such wearing would send out.
I should point out that the conjunction of sex and kimonos was not dreamed up in my overheated brain, but inspired by a couple of Japanese films I saw not so long ago: Gyon Bayashi, (A Geisha) directed by Mizoguchi, and The Realm of the Senses, directed by Nagisa Oshima. In the latter, when the woman was wearing clothes, which wasn’t often, I seem to remember she wore a kimono, but I could be wrong.
Vincent,
I don’t know how it is woven exactly, but Ro is woven, I think, by skipping 7, 5, or 3 threads at a time in either vertically or horizontally. I asked about an appropriate word for it to an American friend of mine today, and she gave me “gossamer.” I looked it up in my English-Japanese dictionary just now. It included Sha. I think Sha is much more see-through than Ro and worn by priests. But of course, the wearers of ro kimono wear one or more undergarments like another kimono under Ro or Sha, and I think the undergarments are usually white.
It occurred to me that my grandfather used to wear a blue half-sleeved shirt in summer. It was probably sha. It never went out of style, and even though he wore every summer when he went out, it looked new. I used to think it was an English style because his suits and jackets were. But from what you wrote, I guess British men do not wear such shirts. Is that right? Grandfather was hairy for Japanese men although he was short for the current standard. And he had hair on his chest. Hmm. I wonder if he attracted women. Hehe he.
Well, I guess if our brains overheat into sexual direction, I can see your concern. But when I look at a Ro kimono or a sha coat worn by a priest, I see class and beauty.
http://www.ginza-yamatoya.co.jp/monthly/special09.html
Keiko, That’s a beautiful kimono. I’ve never seen the marijuana leaf on anything, at least I wasn’t aware of it. I have a cute green hat made from hemp. I bought it in Ashland, Oregon, many years ago. It is very soft and seems durable. I love it. I feel like a little winter elf when I wear it.
Ah, yes, I do see the fan tucked in her obi and such a precious pouch of fragrance. The white obi is exquisite.
I like how you weave many different subjects and thoughts into your blog. Wonderful!
Keiko, That’s a beautiful kimono. I’ve never seen the marijuana leaf on anything, at least I wasn’t aware of it. I have a cute green hat made from hemp. I bought it in Ashland, Oregon, many years ago. It is very soft and seems durable. I love it. I feel like a little winter elf when I wear it.
Ah, yes, I do see the fan tucked in her obi and such a precious pouch of fragrance. The white obi is exquisite.
I like how you weave many different subjects and thoughts into your blog. Wonderful!
Rebb,
Thank you for your repeated effort to post this comment. I think I finally fixed the problem, but I clicked so many places that I don't know exactly what worked.
About kimono, I will post more about it in future. Kimono is environment friendly and good for mental health. It is just hard to wear because we are simply not used to it. I think our bodies react better with natural materials such as cotton, linen, and silk, so traditional kimono are beneficial to our health, I think.
Keiko, forgive my humorous tone;I can´t help but smile when I read you and Vincent talking about a see-through related to sending sexual messages, and I think about the beaches in Brazil, where it´s impossible to 'see-through', because it´s everything so exposed. I think those things depend a lot on culture. I bet many Brazilian men would be much more interested in the girl with a see-through kimono than in the ones they see exposing their bodies with tiny bikinis.
Lu,
You must agree that Vincent is more hilarious than I am!
Yep, Brazilian Beaches have no room for the see through concept. But I think that nowadays, female ocha or Ikebana practitioners would go to beaches in bikini. So you’ll never know. Especially after I researched more links and watched a YouTube video in which a non-Japanese person is explaining about ocha. And many foreigners in Japan learn the arts and go back to their countries. Maybe, one of your neighbors could be a practitioner of ocha or Ikebana. I think it’s cool that today, we can wear bikini at beaches and see-through kimono in ocha rooms.
I don't want you to think of me as a chauvinist anti-Japanese. I just watched Letters from Iwo Jima very Japanese film, I think though directed by Clint Eastwood.
And I'm planning to have another go at planting a bonsai tree. Not getting it from a shop but rooting a cutting from an actual tree.
What I want to ask you Keiko is about how the Japanese express their emotions. In all the films I have seen, including the one mentioned above, they are portrayed as more emphatic in their speech and facial expressions than a Westerner, who prides himself (and possibly herself) on being understated.
Is this just a cinematic convention? Or a reflection of how it actually is?
Vincent,
I don’t think a chauvinist anti-Japanese person would ever take time not only to read but to add comments on my blog. I don’t know how many readers of mine realize this, but to comment on the totally different culture from your own is a risky business. I had and continue to have mishaps, but without those experiences and reflecting on them, I won’t learn anything deep from other cultures.
I haven’t seen “Iwo Jima,” but I like other Clint Eastwood’s movies. I’m chicken. I’m scared of killing, murder, and repeated bombs. When I watched “The Exorcist,” I closed my eyes almost entire time.
About Japanese expressions, I guess that’s the way westerners observe about Japanese and also some Japanese like Kurosawa created the stereotypes. Probably, long ago, actors followed a pattern like Kabuki, and even today, many cannot go beyond the old outdated patterned expressions in acting. Kurosawa’s movies show such patterns. I think he intentionally made the actors’ expression emphatic like kabuki. He escalated the effect by using Mifune Toshiro who was born and reared in China. Apparently, there were some Japanese communities in south of China before WWII. I think he was 19 when he moved to Japan and started to appear in movies. You can see quite clearly he looks and acts much more dynamically compared to other Japanese actors. He probably had darker skin than others, thick eyebrows and perhaps hair on his chest. And I think, later on, other actors followed Mifune’s emphatic acting. That’s my guess.
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