Trying on various kimono
Lots of photos today! I had enough time last night and this morning to try on the woven kimono I received in the mail yesterday, as well as another go at my hikifurisode, this time with the obi I bought especially for it.
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The omeshi tatewaku kimono worn with my chuya obi, then with the bordeaux michiyuki. I simply love this michiyuki, and it goes quite well with the tatewaku kimono! However, I’d never worn my chuya obi before, and the results are rather mediocre. It’s very supple; hard to make a crisp fold. On the plus side, the collar lines look nice, and my obiage knot has vastly improved.
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My hikifurisode! It’s so pretty *happy sigh*. But oh, is it hard to put on a hikifurisode alone! It’s so heavy that everything moves - it felt pointless to have gone to so much effort to get it to look right, then having the collar inch up and everything get all wrinkly while tying the obi. Anyway: the obi looks lovely with it, which makes me very happy. I’d been looking for just the right fukuro obi ever since I bought the hikifurisode, and finally found The One a month ago. I’ve been itching to try it! I chose a darari musubi, without turning over the obi in front. It ended up looking like a failed bunko musubi, as you can see from the back photo. Most embarrassing. The “wings” on either side should go up and over the “knot” in the center and cover one another at an angle. It was impossible to get right by myself, though - next time I’ll just try a plain bunko musubi.
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My fuji-patterned hitoe, worn with just a datejime. As this was the last kimono I tried on, I didn’t bother putting on an obi. The front and back are wrinkle-free: yatta!
November 30th, 2003 at 14:02:35
Wow! Those kimonos are SO pretty! I didn’t really like tatewaku before…but now I think they’re neat and I want one, too! I think your kitsuke looks really nice on that one, too :)
My first bunko/darari musubi with a fukuro-obi looked like that, too (and that was after like 3-4 tries:P) Some of my kitsuke books show a different obi makura for the darari (it looks like a roll cake, or a sausage…)It goes under the tesaki.
You just HAVE to get some flowery fabric for your haneri for the takewaku kimono :) It’ll look so Taisho and cool! Ah well…I should get back to work :)
November 30th, 2003 at 14:04:03
Ahhh, a different obi makura - I see what you mean. I’ve got a makura like that, but haven’t used it yet (haven’t done advanced enough musubi :) ). So it would give volume to the tesaki instead of pushing it up like in the “furisode encyclopedia”, that makes sense.
I’ve got a “new” vintage juban that I can put a flower haneri on :) I found it on ebay France, the seller didn’t know what it was….!! A pretty early Showa nagajuban with giant red, white and pink chrysanthemums.
November 30th, 2003 at 14:04:30
Wow, you look beautiful in hikifurisode.
Just where can you find this different obi makura? And while we’re on that topic, do you know anyplace that sells nice han eri…I can’t seem to find any place!
Thanks!
Rach
November 30th, 2003 at 14:05:02
Rach - for the makura, I asked my favorite sellers :)
Ichiroya. They could probably help you find some han eri too, if you have a good idea of what you want. Otherwise there’s this store that sometimes has formal han eri:
Kimono Naomi, or you can make your own. I wrote an article on how to do that recently:
How to make a han eri
If you speak Japanese, Kimonoyasan is a nice store for accessories.
November 30th, 2003 at 14:05:59
Ah! Ask Ichiroya! Now why didn’t I think of that? ^_^
That Kimonoyasan shop also looks interesting.
Arigatou gozaimasu
October 3rd, 2004 at 04:32:22
Hi,
I’m looking for a good source for. obi tying instructions. Maybe you could help. I want to collect both mens’ and womens’ stuff. I also want to be able to tye mens’ and womens’ obis. that way, I could help my friends tye their obis as well as my own. I have a heko obi and have been guessing on it for a yaer now. I also grabbed a fukuro obi for a furisode I have and the only instructions for obi tying I’ve found yet are for folding a fukuro obi in half lengthwise and doing a bunko bow with no obi-jime or obi-ita or whatever. I wanna know how to do the huge, extravagant bows I see in Japanese wedding pictures on webshots.com. I think the obi (like the kimono) is an art form. not only in itself, but the proper wearing of it. (like the extravagant obi bows). So, If you could point me to a site where I can do heko obi and kaku obi for myself as well as the big stuff like maru obi and fukuro obi, I’d appreciate it alot.
Thanks
May 9th, 2005 at 04:14:31
to ben:
i’m not very sure about any websites, but your library most likely has some really great kimono dressing books!!! even if you can’t read Japanese, a favorite of mine for big, fancy furisode bows is a book called Furisode Kinenbi. (or you can get it from interlibrary loan). also, the Book of Kimono has men’s heko and kaku obi instructions, plus a basic otaiko for the ladies, and 1 fancy bow with a new gadget called “magic obi aid”. happy hunting!
May 11th, 2007 at 02:44:56
I need help to find mens obi tying instructions before obon season starts here. I am interested in learning several types of tying methods :o) thanks