Geisha or Maiko Costumes - Odori Furisode on Ebay

Odori means "dance", which some geisha (and their maiko apprentices) specialize in as one of their arts.

An Ebay seller has just listed several odori furisode at reasonable Buy It Now prices (or if you're feeling brave you could try an even lower Best Offer, which is offered on all four).

The special feature of these kimono is how long they are, as these kimono are meant to trail across a stage during a dance performance. There's no guarantee these are actual maiko kimono (in the case of the long-sleeved ones) or geisha kimono (in the one case with the shorter-sleeved black one) because any professional dancer, from my understanding, could wear this, but they fit the same dimensions and could easily be used in maiko or geisha costumes.

Sort of like ladybugs are red, but not everything red is a ladybug. These kimono could be worn by geisha, but they're not the only ones who could wear them. If that makes sense?

Anyway, enough of my rambling. Go look at the pretty kimono. ;)

Darari Obi Ebay Madness

Darari obi だらり帯 "dangling" obi, are a special type worn by maiko (apprentice geisha).

While most obi are around 12-13' long, these obi are much longer to accommodate the beautiful and instantly-recognizable waterfall-style "darari" knot sported by maiko only. They also feature the crests of their geisha house on the very end of the obi, another distinctive trait that separates these obi from normal, fancy obi worn by women in general.

 A row of maiko at a 2010 party, all wearing darari obi. The woman on the right is a full-fledged geisha (or geiko as they're called in Kyoto) and wears the standard otaiko drum knot seen on normal women as well.

Maiko Sayaka in a gorgeous example.

 Maiko on the move! All photos copyright Onihide and used with permission.

Right now on Ebay three darari obi are up for auction, and the prices are climbing steadily. Considering how hard they are to come by, paying hundreds of dollars for one isn't unheard of. Good luck if you decide to try for one!

Ebay Find: Deep Blue Furisode

A quick post tonight... while surfing Ebay I ran across this pretty furisode in dark blue, a color I don't see very much on secondhand furisode, and listed at a very, very reasonable starting bid price of $29.99. Good luck if you decide to go for this one!

Ebay: Family Crest Cell Phone Stickers

Those of you who have followed this blog for awhile probably know already about my love for the city of Sendai, and my fondness for all things from it. This includes stuff like sasakamaboko (bamboo-leaf shaped fish cakes), the Tanabata festival, and founder Date Masamune (now also a main character in the Sengoku Basara series).

I just ran across a Date Masamune family crest (kamon) cell phone sticker on Ebay. If I hadn't already happily spent all my September kimono money (yeah, I know it's the only the first, but more to come on that later), I'd buy it. Doh!

For those of you not on Team Sendai, the same seller also has the Shinsengumi and generic cherry blossoms and chrysanthemums. :)

Rose Geisha Kimono on Ebay

Geisha kimono, generally called "susohiki" or "hikizuri", are recognizable by their padded, long, trailing hems and often low dip in the back of the neck, as geisha wear their kimono slung much further back than a normal woman. They also often feature classical Japanese designs or abstract patterns.

However, every now and then, as on other kimono, you'll see decidely Western motifs.

This rose hikizuri (and a similar green one) is up on Ebay right now for $150 starting bid. I'm reminded of both the '80s and the anime "Ouran Host Club", but it would also make an awesome costume piece for a Westerner doing a "Western geisha" look. :)

If you're interested in seeing more, two places often have some to look through: Ichiroya lists all of theirs under "susohiki" and on Ebay a search for "hikizuri" will turn them up.

Kimono Shopping Online: Two Words to Watch Out For

When shopping online for kimono, you're likely to run across a host of Japanese terms, two of which can lead to an unpleasant surprise if you don't know them: "karieba" かりえば and "karinui" かりぬい.

These words mean the same thing: a kimono that has been basted into the final shape but has not actually been sewn. If you buy a karieba/karinui kimono, you'll have to sew it together yourself or find a seamstress to do it for you.

A visual giveaway for a karieba kimono is that the sleeves will often in photos seem very square down along the bottoms, rather than the more rounded edges you see on women's kimono and the very rounded edges you see on furisode, young women's kimono. Below is a karieba furisode followed by a finished one: take a look at the sleeve bottoms to see the difference.

Photos copyright Ichiroya and used with permission.

Yamatoku Classic on Ebay - $20 Ko-Furisode - Results Are In!

As I posted a while ago, kimono dealer Yamatoku Classic put up a ton of synthetic ko-furisode (most casual form of furisode) on Ebay for a really low Buy-It-Now price of $20 each.

I snagged two for myself, and they got here today. I couldn't be happier with my purchases! Not only is the wingspan really and truly wide enough (meaning the sleeves reach to my wrist proper) and the kimono long enough for my 5'7" self, but they're beautiful in person. And, as they're synthetic, you can actually wash them yourself (by hand), which you can't really do with silk ones. Here are the two I got:

If more come up in the future, I'd recommend checking them out. I know I might get another one! :)

Ebay Deals: Newly Listed Buy It Now

My fun money is currently going into both the "Authentic Geisha Wig" and "Darth Maul Lightsaber" saving funds (costume geeks unite!) so rather than keep these deals to myself, allow me to tempt you and live vicariously through your shopping. ;)

These are brand-new Ebay auctions with low Buy It Nows, so "no muss, no fuss" if you can get to it before someone else does.

Gorgeous pink houmongi with ocean waves for $24.50.

Bold royal blue komon with kikkou (turtle) pattern for $26.50.

Cute pink with sakura pattern yukata plus obi set for $39.

(I'm not personally endorsing any of these sellers, as a note.)

Ebay Tips: Spelling Bee

While Ebay autocorrects most misspellings, you can still occasionally find auction titles with words written incorrectly or in a different writing system (as mentioned a few posts ago). As most people miss out on these items when they only search the more common terms, you stand a better chance of winning them. :)

Here are a few to try, two using the less-common Nihonsiki variants of spelling:

-geisya (rather than geisha)
-homongi (rather than houmongi, "visiting wear" kimono, and a technical misspelling)
-hurisode (rather than furisode)

Tips for Kimono Newbies: No Repeats

If you're new to kimono and looking for a vintage one online or at a convention, how can you tell fakes from the real ones?

There are many, many ways but here's one of the easiest: If you see an entire rack or web page of the exact same thing, or the exact same thing in different colors, it's likely not a genuine kimono.

There are only two main exceptions to this: high-quality synthetic washable komon (small pattern) kimono, which are relatively new on the scene in modern times, and summer cotton yukata, both of which are cheap compared to more formal kimono and are mass-produced. However, even in these cases neither will ever come with a matching belt made of the same material, as many fakes do. Their overall quality and shape will also look amazing next to shiny satin/polyester bathrobes people are trying to pass off as kimono. ;)

Why no duplicates? The kimono industry is so small (and brand-new kimono so expensive), it's very unlikely you'll ever run across two vintage kimono exactly alike. You may see the same pattern used differently, but exact twins outside of the above situations or dance costumes are rare.

Cheap Men's Obi on Ebay

Ryu Japan has 18 vintage silk men's obi up for auction on Ebay with all of the auctions ending in about 8-9 hours, around 4pm Central Time here in the States. The starting price for each is $0.99 plus $8 for shipping, though most have crept up to $4 and $9.

Even with the $9 ones, these obi usually run between $40-60 in my experience, so the auctions will likely remain a good deal if you've been after a men's kaku obi to add to your collection.

Kimono on a Budget: Part 3

Today's post (really I ought to rename this series "Ebay and Kimono on a Budget") focuses on another way to keep the American shopper's kimono costs down: tracking down the elusive "authentic kimono seller who lives in the US" on Ebay.

Domestic sellers mean much cheaper shipping rates, which can save you quite a bit as you can at times pay just as much for shipping things like a cheap obi from Japan as you spent buying it. I know for me most of my obi from Japan were 50% cost ($18-30) and 50% shipping (another $20-$30).

The quickest way to narrow down your search: once you go to Ebay and log in, click "advanced search" on the right on the home page. Enter your desired keywords and then scroll down until you see "Location". Click that radio button and then click the button that says "Located in United States". Scroll down to the bottom and hit "Search". Then choose "Cultures and Ethnicities" on the left to narrow things down further.

You'll notice a lot more mislabeling and fakes, as American sellers tend to not be as knowledgeable about kimono as most Japanese ones, but good deals can occasionally be found. Right now, for example, a gorgeous black kimono with red lining (I believe that's an old wedding one, not a geisha one, but I could be wrong) is up for $0.99, with only $15 shipping. Another US seller has several yukata starting at $0.99 with $15 in shipping.

If you'd like to check out other entries in this series, search the blog for "kimono on a budget" and happy shopping!

Kimono on a Budget: Part 2

In the first installment of this series, I walked y'all through weeding out junk on Ebay and scooping up "ending soon" auction deals.

The approach today is the opposite tactic, but can also pay off every now and then: Head over to Ebay and search for "kimono" or whatever item you're after, clicking on the Cultures & Ethnicities section in "Collectibles" next. After that, click on the tab on top of the listings that says "Buy It Now". Then click on "Time: newly listed" from the dropdown menu over to the right. This will show you all the brand-new stuff available for purchase at that exact moment, rather than waiting days for an auction to end (and other shoppers to find your item).

Every now and then someone will put up something valuable for cheap, not knowing what it is or I guess just wanting to get it sold. Skimming new listings, I've gotten a hanhaba obi for a Buy It Now price of $4 and a very nice silk men's kimono and haori set (the one I posted about in a seller review) for only $60.

I restrict it to Buy It Now when I look at "newly listed" items because cheap auction opening prices don't matter if the auction still has 5 days to go and lots of time for the price to get driven up.

Kimono on a Budget: Part 1

When I was in college, I didn't have a lot of free cash, so I did a lot of bargain hunting. One of the best bargains I got came from the trendy secondhand clothing shop down the block from my place (Buffalo Exchange, if you've heard of it). The last day of the month they would quietly drop all of their sales clothes to $1 each, so I'd set aside a $10 bill and wait to go shopping until then. They eventually quit doing that once enough of us caught on...

Anyway, I still love finding bargains today, especially on kimono (while not $1 each, my very first two kimono actually came from Buffalo Exchange, one a red wedding furisode for $50).

One online way to get good deals is to check out auctions ending soon on Ebay, some of which watchers have forgotten about or people just won't see before they end. Here's one quick and easy way to weed through the junk and enjoy a bit of window shopping:

1. Head to Ebay and search for "Japanese kimono".

2. Click on the "Cultures and Ethnicities" tab under "Collectibles". This will weed out a fair amount of the fake polyester junk that for some handy reason is always off in the Culture and Ethnic Clothing category. Click on the bottom right "Items per page" to show 200 results at a time for faster skimming. (Once in this category you can also search for obi without having to slog through a million Star Wars Obi-Wan or CD/records with obi strips to get to them.)

3. Set the top right "Sort by" tab to: "ending soonest". To this day I'm still not entirely sure what purpose the "best match" one serves: anyone know?

4. Skim down the first page or two and see if there's anything you like. Ending today I see a few juban (underkimono) for $0.99, no bids yet, and a furisode for $36 (but with 11 bids it clearly has folks interested, so that might go a lot higher).

Before you bid, make sure the shipping is reasonable and that sellers aren't making up for bargain prices with unusually high shipping. I once saw an excellent-condition fukuro obi that was a great deal at around $20, but then it was something like $38 to ship SAL, which is definitely higher than I normally pay.

Part 2 continues here.

Enjoying Ebay: Choose Your Words Carefully

If you're shopping for Japanese items on Ebay, it can be challenging trying to sift through all the junk to find legitimate, authentic items.

One way to narrow down your search is to use the specific Japanese names of what you're after, no matter how rare or esoteric you think it might be: you'd be surprised at how much you can find that way. Here are a few random ideas to show what I mean:

Geisha items:

geisha kanzashi (not perfect at weeding out junk, but more specific than "hair ornaments")
geisha katsura (geisha wig)

Samurai items:

jinbaori (surcoat used with armor)
yoroi (armor)

Kimono/kitsuke:

koshihimo (hidden ties)
obiage (obi scarf)
yukata (this and all the following are types of kimono, more or less from casual on up)
komon
tsukesage
houmongi
furisode
tomesode
kurotomesode
kakeshita
uchikake
shiromuku
mofuku

The use of the names doesn't guarantee authenticity, of course, but it can go a long way in narrowing down your search. Kimono are a lot easier to find if you don't have to pass over 8,000 satin bathrobes to get to them. ;)