Tanka Challenge and notes on the weekend
Apr. 6th, 2009 09:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wakeiseiyo(I forgot to write down the ones I was thinking of over the weekend. Oops.)
Spent too much money
On such pretty, shiny things --
I've always felt that
There's still a long road ahead;
Yet I was the only one.
A bit starved for poetic appeal, but... meh. The Bowers Cherry Blossom Festival yesterday had neither cherry blossoms nor much festivity involved. There were hordes of badly behaved children and their minders, and even the performance troupe had only ONE person in a proper kimono ensemble. (And I mean proper in the loosest sense of the word. Seriously. Like, proper = actual kimono. Not the ladies' silk bathrobe from Chinatown, not something sheer and pink and fuzzy with no collar. Folks, you're within 20 miles of some place that will sell them for a good bargain, even on this side of the Orange Curtain. You're also near at least three distinct ethnic enclaves of Japanese people - SOMEONE will have a kimono to lend for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon.)
Also, red-headed dude on the shamisen? Awesome skill with the instrument, but I really hope you didn't pay a lot for the ladies' kimona-sleeved poly-satin nightgown you had on over your Western clothes. I really wish someone would have shown you at least one picture of a man in proper attire before you chose that outfit.
I realize I break the rules a lot, and still have a lot to learn about kitsuke, but if you're going to present something to a large audience of people who don't know any better? DO IT RIGHT. Even my mom, who is steadily learning proper Japanese terms for all these things and patiently looks through mykimono porn magazines with me, was asking what sort of special fashion or regional thing the presenters were doing that they looked so different from what she was used to seeing.
It was oddly discouraging to be the only person in kimono there. (Though I did meet a nice Japanese lady from Okinawa who's been in the states 10 months now, has enviably awesome English skills [I wish I were so skilled with Japanese], and wants to wear kimono and go to a cafe, just like in all the magazines. She was surprised I knew how to get dressed, and had picked my outfit * out on my own. She was also very amused that I was telling mom how the 'maiko' obi was usually something that hung much longer, rather than a large bow-shaped musubi as the presenter had on, and the shigoki obi was usually red, not white. I didn't bother getting into the katsura style... (Amazing what you learn when you lurk on the internets.) That said, the outfit and makeup were fantastic, as was the dancing, and I'm sorry I didn't bring my camera for that part of the show.)
* Green hitoe (because it was hot!) with little critters and umbrellas and sakura petals, a burgundy and white hakata obi (which I found is MUCH too short to wrap twice, oops!), and pink accessories (obiage, obijime with glass bead), plus a cute jade obi kazari with a turtle on it. I did have fun with a flower-patterned han'eri and my light green yabane tabi socks, breaking the rules on what 'should' be white. Hey, it's an outdoor festival. I don't need to be too conformist - I'm not pretending to be an expert in front of an audience of several hundred. Also, I REALLY should just spring for a silk muji hitoe, because it's so miserably warm by April. My poly ones are too warm!
Saturday's Kyoei trip was brief but fun - I picked up a red obijime, a lemon yellow obiage, and a yellow date-eri to go with my crane houmongi that I want to wear to the opening day at the museum on the 19th - I have the outfit pretty well picked out at this point. I definitely plan on staying indoors as much as possible, since it's a lined kimono and the only juban I own is synthetic (gah!) at the sleeves and skirt. I also plan on wearing my decidedly NOT Japanese gold "zori" that are actually just nice thong sandals with a cute crystal bead fringe on them, because my feet ache enough in slightly-too-small shoes as it is. I will have white tabi and a white collar, though. ( I do lament my lack of a pinstriped blue/grey wool kimono and obi in my size, now, because basting on a black cotton collar to look very Edo would have been SO much fun for the opening of the samurai exhibit. Just sayin'. )
Note for later: The next shipment is at month-end, and the lady that does the kimono alterations is in Japan until mid-month - May will be a bit spendy, too, I think. Good thing I'll be working overtime... (We'll not go into the paranoia about my job because I've been making noises about wanting to move up, and they're making noises about reducing staff if we don't meet budget. I don't want a pay raise as badly as I want to get out of the clerical pigeonhole I'm stuck in...)
Spent too much money
On such pretty, shiny things --
I've always felt that
There's still a long road ahead;
Yet I was the only one.
A bit starved for poetic appeal, but... meh. The Bowers Cherry Blossom Festival yesterday had neither cherry blossoms nor much festivity involved. There were hordes of badly behaved children and their minders, and even the performance troupe had only ONE person in a proper kimono ensemble. (And I mean proper in the loosest sense of the word. Seriously. Like, proper = actual kimono. Not the ladies' silk bathrobe from Chinatown, not something sheer and pink and fuzzy with no collar. Folks, you're within 20 miles of some place that will sell them for a good bargain, even on this side of the Orange Curtain. You're also near at least three distinct ethnic enclaves of Japanese people - SOMEONE will have a kimono to lend for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon.)
Also, red-headed dude on the shamisen? Awesome skill with the instrument, but I really hope you didn't pay a lot for the ladies' kimona-sleeved poly-satin nightgown you had on over your Western clothes. I really wish someone would have shown you at least one picture of a man in proper attire before you chose that outfit.
I realize I break the rules a lot, and still have a lot to learn about kitsuke, but if you're going to present something to a large audience of people who don't know any better? DO IT RIGHT. Even my mom, who is steadily learning proper Japanese terms for all these things and patiently looks through my
It was oddly discouraging to be the only person in kimono there. (Though I did meet a nice Japanese lady from Okinawa who's been in the states 10 months now, has enviably awesome English skills [I wish I were so skilled with Japanese], and wants to wear kimono and go to a cafe, just like in all the magazines. She was surprised I knew how to get dressed, and had picked my outfit * out on my own. She was also very amused that I was telling mom how the 'maiko' obi was usually something that hung much longer, rather than a large bow-shaped musubi as the presenter had on, and the shigoki obi was usually red, not white. I didn't bother getting into the katsura style... (Amazing what you learn when you lurk on the internets.) That said, the outfit and makeup were fantastic, as was the dancing, and I'm sorry I didn't bring my camera for that part of the show.)
* Green hitoe (because it was hot!) with little critters and umbrellas and sakura petals, a burgundy and white hakata obi (which I found is MUCH too short to wrap twice, oops!), and pink accessories (obiage, obijime with glass bead), plus a cute jade obi kazari with a turtle on it. I did have fun with a flower-patterned han'eri and my light green yabane tabi socks, breaking the rules on what 'should' be white. Hey, it's an outdoor festival. I don't need to be too conformist - I'm not pretending to be an expert in front of an audience of several hundred. Also, I REALLY should just spring for a silk muji hitoe, because it's so miserably warm by April. My poly ones are too warm!
Saturday's Kyoei trip was brief but fun - I picked up a red obijime, a lemon yellow obiage, and a yellow date-eri to go with my crane houmongi that I want to wear to the opening day at the museum on the 19th - I have the outfit pretty well picked out at this point. I definitely plan on staying indoors as much as possible, since it's a lined kimono and the only juban I own is synthetic (gah!) at the sleeves and skirt. I also plan on wearing my decidedly NOT Japanese gold "zori" that are actually just nice thong sandals with a cute crystal bead fringe on them, because my feet ache enough in slightly-too-small shoes as it is. I will have white tabi and a white collar, though. ( I do lament my lack of a pinstriped blue/grey wool kimono and obi in my size, now, because basting on a black cotton collar to look very Edo would have been SO much fun for the opening of the samurai exhibit. Just sayin'. )
Note for later: The next shipment is at month-end, and the lady that does the kimono alterations is in Japan until mid-month - May will be a bit spendy, too, I think. Good thing I'll be working overtime... (We'll not go into the paranoia about my job because I've been making noises about wanting to move up, and they're making noises about reducing staff if we don't meet budget. I don't want a pay raise as badly as I want to get out of the clerical pigeonhole I'm stuck in...)
