着物月 Kimono Tsuki

So I have been slacking with the cataloguing. Today I am going to feature another favourite obi of mine. Interestingly, it was a gift from the same dear friend who got me the blackbird obi I mentioned in a previous entry.

This obi has another quirky, relatively unique motif, koinobori.

The motif is koinobori, or koi flags/banners.

From Wikipedia

Koinobori (鯉幟, Koi-nobori?), meaning “carp streamer” in Japanese, are carp-shaped wind socks traditionally flown in Japan to celebrate Tango no Sekku (端午の節句), a traditional calendrical event which is now designated a National holiday; Children’s Day[1].

The obi is technically very seasonal, because of this, and shouldn’t really be worn aside from the first week of May, when Children’s Day is.

Luckily, this year I went to my work’s toy convention on the first weekend of May earlier this year. It’s a day filled with superheroes and fantastic tales, a great place to celebrate Boy’s Day. I paired it up with a purple tsukesage and minty green and purple accessories.

I suspect this obi is quite old. It is very soft, the silk worn thin in a few places, and it’s very short. Unfortunately, because of this even with an obi-tying aid, I still get a relatively small otaiko from it. I still love it though.

And just for fun, a girl in a kimono kicking butt with a lightsaber. I do love my job.

After months of discussing, planning, and failing on my part, Amelie and I finally got to spend the day together yesterday 😀 She is super sweet, as is her fiance, as are her cats. It is really nice to find a friend nearby to practice kitsuke with, go to kimono events, and of course loan and swap items. Not only that, but we have many other obscure interests in common.

Of course, we had to share kimono and get dressed up and go to dinner.

I wore my new red tsukesage with french-knot embroidery and my red and cream Stations of the Tokaido hakata obi, Ame wore my green iromuji (which looks and fits waaay better on her than it does on me, it pains me to say) with an adorable cream tsuke-obi.

I apologize for my appearance in these pics – My hair was being really poofy and weird and I wasn’t able to put on any makeup because idiot cat bit me in the eye early in the morning. Yes, my cat is an asshole.