Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Kimono Seasonal Motifs, Flowers, and Colors: May

Here we are with the month of May, my birth month actually. :) In olden times, the months had different names than the simple ones they do now (Fifth Month, Sixth Month, etc.). May's old name was Satsuki ("the month of growing things"), and is also used as a girl's name.

(If you're looking to buy kimono, I recommend Rakuten for new ones, especially casual wear, and Ichiroya for nice vintage ones!)


The Month of May 

Kimono

Kimono are lined. Fabrics include kotoshi chirimen or kawari chirimen, and for woven things mon-ishou silks (single-color fabrics woven with patterns in the background) are used. Rinzu silks feature refreshing patterns like flowing water or streams (ryuu-sui), waves (nami), running bamboo (sasa), or a mix of scattered nature and court patterns (go-sho-doki).

Running bamboo

Go-sho-doki pattern

Colors are bright tones while reflecting the season. With dyed patterns, it’s good to go with things like flowers that bloom in the beginning of summer, general evergreen plants (toki-wagi), seasonal scenery (fuu-kei), and dyed gradations.

For the first part of the month, wear lined kimono. Starting in the middle of the month, things like kimono that are unlined on the body part, lined “ro (gauze)”, and lined “sha (gauze)” silks can be worn to stylishly hint at the coming season.



A lined ro kimono

A lined sha kimono

Obi

This month, brocade-weave (nishiki-ori) fukuro obi use the same materials as spring obi, but through colors and patterns it’s good to give a sense of summer drawing near.

Rather than multicolored obi, go with monochrome or something like gold/silver brocade to create a cool brilliance. Other than things like tapestry-weave obi (tsuzure), for more lightweight wear you can use shioze or habutae silk obi painted with seasonal designs, or chirimen silk Nagoya obi with dyed patterns.

In the case of lined ro or sha kimono, a medium-weight summer obi is a good match.

Accessories

Obiage and obijime are similar to spring ones, but the colors and patterns are brighter, losing their darker and more muted tones. Obiage are lightweight chirimen or rinzu. Obijime types include narrow maru-kara-gumi, kanze, or yurugi.


Maru-kara-gumi weave
Maru-kara-gumi obijime


Naga-juban are hitoe: choose light colors featuring things like summer flower patterns or gradation.

Collars are shioze habutae, tabi are lined white calico, and footwear is enamel (vinyl) in light colors.


Colors

Use tones, which are highly saturated colors mixed with neutral ones to dull them and make them softer. Examples include light purple (asa-murasaki) C4A3BF, wisteria purple (fuji-iro) AFB4DB, grey-pink (hai-zakura) E6D2C9, light blue (mizu-iro) AFDFE4, celadon (seiji-iro) 60B49F, and turquoise blue (toruko-buru) 40E0D0. 



Patterns

Peony (botan), flowering dogwood (hana-mizuki), flowers and birds, young bamboo (waka-take), seasonal scenery, gradated patterns, and a mix of scattered nature and court patterns.


Peony


Flowering dogwood


Young bamboo

Flowers Associated with May

Paulownia (kiri), bitter orange (tachibana), lily (yuri), green maple leaves (ao-kaede), Japanese iris (hana-shoubu), rabbit-ear iris (kakitsubata), Siberian iris (ayame), pear flower (nashi-no-hana), bamboo (take) specifically young bamboo, deutzia crenata (u-no-hana), gymnaster savatieri (miyako-wasure).


Paulownia (in the bottom image
it's the bottom left circle)


Bitter orange


Lily

Green maple leaves


Various irises


Pear flower

See previous section for bamboo.


Deutzia (crenata)


Gymnaster savatieri


Patterns Associated with May 

Flower raft (hana-ikada), both the nock/fletching of an arrow (yahazu or yabane) and armor (yoroi) due to Boys’ Day being in May, hollyhock (aoi) patterns due to Kyoto’s famous Hollyhock Festival (Aoi Matsuri) in May, carriages (mi-kuruma), parade floats (dashi).



Flower raft


Arrow nock/fletching


 
Armor


Hollyhock


Carriages


Parade floats


Original Author Notes

Regarding lined kimono for “furo” (portable stove for boiling water used for summer tea ceremonies):

May is the season of bright green (plants).  With the passing of the 5th, the first day of summer, tea ceremony marks the boundary between spring and summer by switching out the hearth for the portable “furo”.

"Furo", the portable hearth
The tatami mat that replaces the hearth, fresher and greener than the mats around it, heightens the newness that comes with the first tea ceremony of the year to use the “furo” rather than the hearth.

May kimono are lined. Take care to use utensils and arrange the room in a summer-like fashion. Also, remember that winter and spring kimono give a different feeling than summer ones. Avoid creating a heavy look by choosing fresh colors, light fabrics, and simple designs.

The beauty of a kimono lies in its colors and patterns, but how it fits with the obi chosen can also change the impression it gives. While May and October obi like dyed obi and such are light to begin with, we also want their patterns and materials to give a sense of the season. White obi with painted flowers like peony, iris, green maple leaves, wisteria (fuji), and clematis (tessen) might be good for a light feeling.

Wisteria


Clematis


Also, it’s a popular season for “open-air” tea ceremonies. On days where you’re likely to sweat, it’s good to wear “dou-bitoe” kimono. “Dou-bitoe”, or “chest-single-layer” kimono are kimono where the bottom half, back sleeve edge, and sleeve cuff edge are lined, leaving the chest area and sleeves unlined. When worn, dou-bitoe look like regular lined kimono.

A dou-bitoe kimono

From mid-month on, naga-juban change over to ro and collars become shioze as more ways to dress cooler.

With things like sha lined kimono, even if they get a little water on them they won’t shrink so they’re very handy for long trips or time spent in the “mizu-ya”, the room next to the tea ceremony room where utensils are washed. Even though they’re made of sha, because they are sewn as lined kimono there is no problem (I believe the author means there is no problem with the formality level).



Translator Footnotes

Nothing special this month, but yes, I did use Date replica armor for the armor picture. Go Sendai! XD


Translator Notes

Nothing special this month.

(Notes below repeated from previous months)

-The original author repeats several points, so with certain common terms I am using the Japanese name on first mention only. If you’re unsure of something, feel free to ask and I can clarify.

-The number next to the color name is that color's hex code as used in HTML. Keep in mind the exact shade may vary as well, from what I've seen cross-checking traditional color-name sites with actual kimono vendors.

- As a note, this is my translation of a tea ceremony kimono site. The tea ceremony world, I have learned, is among the strictest when it comes to following proper seasonality rules, so bear in mind that these rules are more stringent than the general thinking for daily and casual kimono wearers.

It’s great if a daily wearer can put together an outfit following all of these rules, but very few will look at you funny if you can’t, as it’s hard and can be expensive to collect all the proper pieces. I’m translating this site more as part of my efforts to add to the world of English-language kimono information for those who don’t speak Japanese.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Kimono Seasonal Motifs, Flowers, and Colors: April

Here's April: I managed to get this one done despite getting a late start, yay! The theme this month seems to be understated beauty, dressing in harmony with spring rather than trying to outdo it. Enjoy!

(If you're looking to buy kimono, I recommend Rakuten for new ones, especially casual wear, and Ichiroya for nice vintage ones!)

The Month of April 

Kimono

Brilliant rinzu or donsu (silk/satin damask) silks and mon-ishou (solid-color fabrics with patterns woven into them) silks. In the case of tea ceremony, choose “light” (less formal, I believe) houmongi or tsukesage. It’s good to mainly use colors like purple (murasaki) 8B52A1 or light pink (usu-beni) F69896, light blue (mizu-iro) AFDFE4, ink black (sumi-iro) 333132, light brown (usu-cha) C5956B, and light green (usu-midori) CEE6C1.



Good patterns to use include michi-naga-dori (a pattern that resembles collage art with “torn” edges between different patterns), go-sho-doki (bright or flashy pattern featuring scenery scattered with flowers from all four seasons blooming and items from ancient court life, like ox-drawn carriages or formal cypress wood fans), and flowers like cherry blossoms, peony, and wisteria.

Examples of "torn paper collage" design
"michi-naga-dori"


Example of scattered nature and
classical court pattern "go-sho-doki"

Obi

Shioze silk obi with dyed spring patterns, or obi with flowers rendered in gold brocade are appropriate. In the case of woven obi, use single-color brocade obi like gold leaf, platinum leaf, silver leaf, or haku-ichou (an obi made from only gold leaf and a single color’s thread, the contrast creating its monochrome pattern).


Haku-ichou obi


Accessories

Obi-age should be plain or gradated rinzu silk, with obi-jime chosen to match the type of kimono worn. If yurugi (crown-style) type obi-jime are used, they should coordinate well with the kimono.

Yurugi obijime

Juban become unlined, and it’s good to use plain light colors or small, fine spring patterns. Collars are white shioze or habutae silk. For footwear, choose bright colors that coordinate with the colors of the kimono.



Colors

Go with bright, golden yellow (yama-buki-iro) FCAF17, purple, light pink, light blue, ink black, light brown, pearl gray (shin-ju-iro) FFFEF2, and light colors that are clearer and brighter than March’s colors.



Patterns

Wisteria (fuji), peony (botan), willow (yanagi), streams/flowing water (ryuusui) and scattered court and nature patterns. For cherry blossoms (sakura), use the blossoms (sakura-bana) the first half of the month and the petals (hana-bira) the second half of the month.


 
Wisteria



Peony


Willow


Streams/flowing water


"Scattered nature and court patterns" shown in first section.



Cherry blossoms for the first half of the month


Cherry blossom petals for
the second half of the month






Flowers Associated with April

Lily magnolia (moku-ren), mountain rose (yama-buki), Reeves spirea (ko-de-mari), noble orchid (shun-ran), green/budding willow (ao-yagi), Chinese peony (shaku-yaku), and “autumn of bamboo” (take-no-aki). (It’s called “autumn of bamboo” because around this time of year bamboo leaves turn yellow and drop off, resembling autumn and making way for new leaves.)


Lily magnolia



Mountain rose


Reeves spirea



Noble orchid


Green/budding willow


Chinese peony


"Autumn of bamboo"


Patterns Associated with April 

Swallows (tsubame), deer (shika), green/unripened wheat or barley (ao-mugi), curtains at cherry blossom viewing parties (hanami-manmaku).

 
Swallows


Deer


Green/unripened wheat


Curtains at cherry-blossom
viewing parties


(Original Author) Notes

Regarding lined kimono with spring flower patterns:

For tea ceremony, it’s the season for getting out of the tea house and doing an “open-air tea ceremony” in the middle of nature, which means lots of seats available.

Although it’s called the simple phrase “open-air tea ceremony”, according to the true purpose of the ceremony and place kimono worn will still keep their different ranks: chu-furisode, houmongi, tsukesage, and komon. (I think what the author is saying here is you can’t bust out a furisode just because you feel like it: you still need to think about which rank of kimono would be appropriate for tea ceremony even if the setting is more informal than usual.)

However, because the outdoors are alive with the fresh beauty of spring in full bloom, a lighthearted pattern in a monochrome spring color can look good and suggest the loveliness of the season around you. Rather than trying to compete with cherry blossoms in full bloom, azaleas/rhododendron (tsutsuji), and peonies, try wearing things that subtly or humbly hint at the season and you’ll look nice.


Translator Notes

-Another name for "usu-beni", light pink, is "usu-kurenai".

-I actually own the blue kimono shown in the stock photo used for the "green willow" example. It's a washable one and very pretty in real life, and one of my favorite kimono! :)

-While it's not explicitly stated, all kimono will be lined this month. Unlined kimono don't kick in until June.

(Notes below repeated from previous months)

-The original author repeats several points, so with certain common terms I am using the Japanese name on first mention only. If you’re unsure of something, feel free to ask and I can clarify.

-The number next to the color name is that color's hex code as used in HTML. Keep in mind the exact shade may vary as well, from what I've seen cross-checking traditional color-name sites with actual kimono vendors.

- As a note, this is my translation of a tea ceremony kimono site. The tea ceremony world, I have learned, is among the strictest when it comes to following proper seasonality rules, so bear in mind that these rules are more stringent than the general thinking for daily and casual kimono wearers.

It’s great if a daily wearer can put together an outfit following all of these rules, but very few will look at you funny if you can’t, as it’s hard and can be expensive to collect all the proper pieces. I’m translating this site more as part of my efforts to add to the world of English-language kimono information for those who don’t speak Japanese.