Category Archives: Obiage, Obijime, Komono

My biggest fans!

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Wow, that title was lame and predictable, was it not? But still, it’s pretty perfect.

Kimono can get very very hot. One of the easiest and prettiest ways to deal with this is simply tucking a pretty and useful fan into your purse, sleeve, or obi. I only have a few, but they’re versatile :)

Two-sided dance fan


There is a long and sweet story behind this fan. The city I live in, Montreal, is one of the biggest ports in Canada, and the main entrance into the St. Lawrence seaway. Because of this, we get all kinds of strange boat traffic from all over the world. When I was very young, my parents and I were in the old port area and we came across a gentleman who happened to be a member of the Japanese Navy. His English and French skills were virtually non-existent, and he had gotten himself lost and could not find his way back to the port, or his ship. My father was working in aeronautics at the time and had a few dealings with people from Mitsubishi, and somehow had cobbled together enough to figure out what the poor gentleman was trying to say, so we happily led him back towards the port. His fellow officers were very grateful, and invited us onto the ship for sake (or in my severely underage case, juice).
This fan, along with a banner with the ship’s name, were given to my family as tokens of appreciation for the whole thing.

Stations of The Tokaido – Nihonbashi fan

Yet another item in my strange obsessive collection of Stations of the Tokaido motif items – my only fan, though!

Goldfish fan

Cute summery fan with kingyo (goldfish) motif.

White fan with silver flecks

This was included as a free gift with a couple of obi I bought.

Pink fan with flowers

Given to me as a gift quite a few years ago

Pink bunny fan

Adorable chubby bunnies. I had to have it, clearly.

Recent Acquisitions – Obiage

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Nothing exciting this morning, just managed to photograph some new obiage I got recently. I bid on a lot of three specifically to get one, but lucked out because the other two are nicer in person than they looked in photographs.

Peach rinzu obiage

This looked like a gross fluorescent orange in the auction photos – in person it’s a lovely delicate peach colour. The rinzu’s got a great subtle design of sayagata design and multi-seasonal flowers.

Vivid pink chirimen obiage

I desperately needed more casual obiage, so this was a nice addition. It’s very pink, but I’ll find places to make it work, I’m sure.

Lavender obiage with embroidery

This is the main reason I bid on the whole bundle. I was captivated by the tiny, delicate embroidery. In the auction photos it looked like a sort of a drab grey, and had what seemed to be some very visible stains. I was pleasantly surprised when it actually arrived, the grey was actually a warm dove grey, and there’s some areas of a soft lavender too. The stains, so prominent in the auction, are barely visible at all in person.

What really makes this special though, is the embroidery. Each end has three fan-shaped areas filled with plants – one has ume, one has irises, and one has pines.

As a bonus, here’s a random picture of my box of obiage. I just really like how they look when they’re all folded and organized… not that it ever stays this way for long XD

I’ve got several kimono in the mail right now, so hopefully I’ll have some nice new outfits to post in the near future, and yes, I’m still going to continue the series on size challenges in dressing. Just needed a break and a “mindless” entry to post.

Birthday splurging.

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Several weeks ago I was lucky enough to be able to go visit my dearest friend in Boulder, Colorado. Aside from being a beautiful city with a firm grip on my soul, Boulder is also home to a rather unexpected Vintage Kimono Showroom. Janine, the lovely owner, was kind enough to give me an early start on her holiday sale, since I was only going to be in town for a week. I went on my birthday, of all days, since my friend was stuck at work.

I managed to snag some really awesome pieces. I did my best to not go overboard, buying only things that I found really special. One piece in particular was so special that it’s going to get its own entry soon, I am just waiting on an obi to coordinate it with. In the meantime, here are the other things I picked up, behind the cut!

First up, a great little vintage yabane komon.

Based on the colours and sleeve length, I’d guesstimate it at early Showa. The sleeves are lined in red, but just by a few inches, I think someone may have added it in on their own. The fabric on this one is quite odd, it feels almost like a cotton-silk blend. It’s nice and airy, despite being fully lined, and I feel as though I could almost wear it year-round.

I also snagged two gorgeous haori, including my first-ever vintage one. The modern one is lovely, a thick black silk with karabana (fantasy flowers) in soft pastels. The way it’s dyed gives it a great artsy feel.

I actually wore this out to my birthday dinner, along with a green cowl-neck sweater and jeans, as well as the lovely pearl necklace I got from my friend. No photos of the outfit, but feel free to enjoy a blurry shot of my ugly mug enjoying a stuffed scallop!

The other haori is amazing. It’s a lush, crisp taffeta silk in a great teal, red, black and white stripe. The sleeves are deliciously long, it’s nice to finally have a haori I can wear with my vintage kimono.

The other great thing about vintage haori is the lining fabric they used to use. Often times they were much more vivid and crazy than the haori themselves.

My last addition were two obijime.

A cute, straightforward two-sided red and black casual obijime

And an adorable vivid fluorescent red-orange obijime with pastel hakata detail. I’m really loving these hakata obiage I keep finding. Another great thing about this one is that I can wear obidome with it :D

Overall, I’m really happy with everything I got, and I am looking forward to sharing the other special piece soon!

Silk scarves and soft ropes.. Obiage & Obijime

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Oh my, the title of this sounds so much more exciting than it actually is! However, in my mind obiage and obijime can be very sexy, a vivid obijime can add a bright punch of colour to a subdued outfit, and an obiage peeping out above the obi almost reminds me of elegant silk lingerie.

My collection is admittedly sort of unbalanced, since I lucked out and found a bundled lot of a large number of obijime, and don’t have enough obiage to match XD I will fix that eventually though!

Plum rinzu obiage and round obijime

These were actually purchased on separate occasions, and just happen to be an insanely ridiculous match. The obiage has a subtle pattern of stripes and kiku.

Mofuku (funeral wear) obiage and obijime

Simple and versatile. Technically to be worn to a funeral, but they “ground” an otherwise busy and colourful outfit.

Apple-green shibori obiage and round obijime

A vivid, youthful pair. Also not technically a set, they were acquired at separate times and just happen to match perfectly.

Icy obiage and olive flat obijime

I received this lovely subdued formal set as a gift from a dear friend and a terrible enabler, the same one who gave me the blackbird obi and the koinobori obi. The obiage is a very pale icy blue that looks green in some lights, and has a subtle leafy print on it. The obijime is gold on one side and olive on the other.

Lilac chirimen obiage and flat obijime

Simple solid purple obiage. The obijime has a few cute areas woven with a sort of olive colour and yellow. These actually did not come together, they were bought separately but just happened to look perfect together.

Lemon shibori obiage and hakata obijime

One of my favourite sets – the obiage is a bright vivid yellow with round shibori designs, it reminds me of lemon slices.

The obiage is flat and has delicate hakata weaving in gold.

Pink ro shell obiage and lace obijime

I love this set and wish it weren’t ro, so I could wear it more often. The obiage has adorable little dyed shells all over it, and the obijime has a kind of chevron pattern woven into it with shiny, multicoloured threads.

White obiage with red shibori clouds

Simple white rinzu with cute bright red clouds. It’s youthful, but not totally covered with shibori, which is nice and versatile.

Pink geometric shibori obiage

The work in this sort of shibori never ceases to amaze me. It’s so detailed, and the geometric bits are so perfect and straight.

Raspberry red shibori obiage

I’m not sure what to call this colour – I cannot accurately capture it on camera. It looks rich tomato red in some light, hot pink in others, but usually sort of a dark red-pink. Pretty!

Orange shibori obiage

Nice rich orange. Not much else to say about it XD

Khaki flowered shibori obiage

This is a bit of an oddity, it’s such a drab, muted colour but the amount of shibori on it makes it feel young and formal. Poor conflicted thing! It’s beautiful though, the designs are bamboo leaves and flowers.

Red and aqua vintage shibori obiage

I love this one. It’s got such great vibrant contrast. It’s relatively old, compared to some of my others, and feels a bit thin and fragile, but still great and wearable.

Black and red polka-dot “obiage”

I say “obiage” in quotations because this is actually a scarf I picked up at the mall recently, it just happens to have the exact weight and dimensions of a real obiage, so why not use it?

Fancy brown and gold obijime

A formal obijime, good for furisode. It’s fun to play with, either braiding the three small strands, or making small fancy knots with them.

Fancy pink and gold obijime

Also good for furisode, with lovely gold accents and rainbow tassels.

Navy and ice-blue obijime

A nice smooth versatile obijime in a relatively neutral navy blue with a hit of pale blue.

Gold and red obijime

This is actually a decorative silk cord, but it’s stiff enough and pretty enough to use.

Raspberry obijime

Simple, easy to match with anything.

Baby pink obijime

Tassels on this one are kind of a mess, but it’s a cute soft colour.

Pink and red saganishiki obijime

Beautiful and detailed, and great for obidome. I’d like more of this style eventually.

Pink and silver obijime

I’ve not yet worn this, but I hope to soon. I think it’s really pretty.

Teal and red wide flat obijime

I love this one, it’s very wide and the colour choice is really unexpected. It feels quite vintage to me, but I’m not sure. I can’t wait to have an outfit it works well with.

Blue and gold “rubber duck” obijime

The colours and design on this totally reminds me of a shower curtain with little rubber ducks or something. I love this one.

Chocolate and lime tiny obijime

This one’s small and discreet, but so awesome up close. It’s the colour of milk chocolate with hits of a rich true lime green and silver.

Mint green and neon red obijime

I love this one, and wear it far too often. The mint is so calm and cool, and the punches of fluorescent red are so fun. I love the gigantic fluffy tassels too.

Blue and white striped obijime

A cute, nautical-feeling one.

Flat pink obijime

Another simple and easily wearable one. Works with a lot of outfits.

Bright orange flat obijime

This is a sort of violent shade of orange, but it’s simple otherwise so not too overboard. Not my favourite though, it came bundled with some others.