Sunday, October 26, 2008

Blue Aurora Tsukesage


This morning I bought a new kimono - an azurite blue tsukesage (付け下げ、つけさげ) . I fell in love with the color as soon as I saw it. Usually, I don't like this color - possibly because it's normally paired with red or white flowers. In anycase, I fell for the subtle white aurora looking motif. However, I made a promise to Andrew that I would only buy this kimono if it stayed on Kimono Lily (formerly Chuu) until Sunday. Luckily, this beauty stayed until I could buy it.
I already have items that I think I'm going to pair with this kimono. I think my silver Saga Nishiki kujaku (孔雀、くじゃく) obi, silver zouri, and a white obijime. Ideally, I'd like to buy a white obiage to go along with it as well.
I hopefully will be wearing this beauty at the Asian Occasion event at my college.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Kimono Storage


I was a bit bored this afternoon, so I decided to take photos of my kimono chest and inventory what's in there.
The chest is something that took me quite a few months to actually find.  The problem wasn't so much finding something that I liked.  It was more the issue of finding something to accommodate the length of the kimono tatoushi (着物たとう紙、きものたとうし) (32 inches long).  Everything I looked at seemed to stop at 30 inches wide.  So I was looking on Target.com - and came across this tv armoire.  It happened to be just the right width.  So my parents bought it for me, knowing I needed something large to put my kimono in.


This is the inside of my kimono chest.  I try to keep it fairly neat, but that's a bit hard (especially with no shelves on top).  The whole top is filled with kimono(着物、きもの), yukata(浴衣、ゆかた), and haori(羽織、はおり) - mine and Andrew's.  Under that shelf, all my obi(帯、おび) are stored.  Behind the lower doors, are all my accessories... fans, underwear, bags, kitsuke accessories, kanzashi, etc.  As I said, I attempt keeping everything neat, but that becomes especially hard with my kimono and my obi.



My Kimono Inventory:
2 Uchikake (打ちかけ)
1 Kakeshita (賭け下)
1 Maiko Hikizuri (舞妓の引きずり)
1 Susohiki (すそ引き)
3 Furisode (振袖)
1 Tomesode (留袖)
1 Iro-tomesode (色留袖)
3 Iromuji (色無地)
3 Houmongi (訪問着)
2 Tsukesage (付け下げ)
12 Komon (小紋)
2 Tsumugi Kimono (紬着物)
1 Wool Kimono (羊毛着物)
5 Haori (羽織)
1 Tsumugi Haori (紬羽織)
1 Ama Coat (雨コート)

1 Maru Obi (丸帯)
4 Fukuro Obi (袋帯)
2 Fukuro-Nagoya Obi (袋名古屋帯)
8 Nagoya Obi (名古屋帯)
4 Hanhaba Obi (半幅帯)

1 Furisode Nagajuban (振袖長襦袢)
1 Nagajuban (長襦袢)
2 Suseyoke (すせよけ)
1 Hadajuban (肌襦袢)
4 sets of Tabi (足袋)

10 Obiage (帯揚げ)
10 Obijime (帯締め)
3 Obidome (帯留め)
13 Han eri (半衿)
6 Zouri (草履) 
2 Geta (下駄)
1 Okobo (おこぼ)