Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Comments Missing and Free Kitsuke Classes

The bad news first... I have very limited blogging skills. I just open, write, and post. Today I decided to go into the Dashboard and try things out and get all fancy!

So I saw I had a ton of comments, all of which I had read on the blog itself. So I decided to delete the giant pile of what I thought were comment notifications so I would be better informed when new ones popped up. Nope. I instead ruthlessly and unwittingly deleted every comment that's ever been made on this blog, 50 at a time. >_< It took me a while. I wondered why there wasn't a button to delete all the notifications at once...

The moral of the story is don't let me near Dashboard. So if you notice your comments are missing, I apologize. It's because I'm an idiot.

But hopefully a better-dressed idiot soon.

The good news: Thanks to a newspaper ad passed along by a friend, I am now enrolled in Wasou's free autumn kitsuke classes!

Wasou is one of the big kimono schools here in Japan, which exist to help Japanese women learn how to wear kimono ("kitsuke") and become more knowledgeable about them. They exist because kimono are no longer a part of daily life for most younger Japanese women, so while they know a bit they're usually not much more familiar with them than your average American.

The lessons (15 in all) are truly free minus a few small fees here and there (300 yen for a student photo taken your first day, 1,200 yen for a bento box lunch during a couple of "lunch seminars", and 8,000-12,000 yen for an optional all-kimono party at a local hotel at the end of the course). The way Wasou makes its money is if you choose to purchase any kimono or obi at the two lunch seminars, where kimono and obi makers come and basically do a trunk show.

Wasou also makes a few bucks off of any dressing doo-dads you choose to buy that they demo for you during the first class: elastic koshihimo cords that are more comfortable than the traditional cloth ones, bias-cut collars that never wrinkle, etc. They made a few bucks off me once I saw how handy some of the things were. :)

Once I have a few more lessons I'll post more about my experiences with the school. And hopefully not delete anything along the way! Arrrrgh!

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Seasonality Motif Chart for Kimono

Just like Western clothing, where you wouldn't wear a tanktop in December in most places, or a Christmas-themed sweater in July, kimono follow certain seasonal patterns in construction and motifs. Here is one seasonal chart I've translated, notable for its inclusion of motifs for each month. Most I run across only list construction details or general seasonal designs.



If you're not familiar with Japanese culture, a few might seem odd (for example, carp banners are a traditional decoration for Children's Day, held in May) but as you look through the months, you can see that most of the motifs are a reflection of nature at that time in the year.

If you're interested in the Japanese name for a motif or have any questions, let me know! :)