Lots going on.

I am way behind in posting, but hope to catch ip in the next couple of days.

Till then, here's a little something I picked up recently...

Ir is a summer lid rest or Futaoki.

It is made from etched glass to give a cool feel to the eye.

The first Tea of the year!

So much has been happening I havent had time to write so this will be at least double post!

Today I went to class, Lynn expected that it being the first tea of the year class would be busy and that Sensei would not have time for dressing etc., so I left my kit in the car. As it turned out this was not the case, however, I do think it best I didn't wade in to today's craziness.Today seemed to be a gifting day with Lynn and lucia having made cookies, miso, and mini books. Sensei also gifted me a pair of extra long koshi-himo ties for dressing.

First the two senior tea students practiced God Tea, which is an offering tea rather than a drinking tea. As with all teas it has it's own particular set of movements etc. After that practice tea was served which was wonderful. Lucia had come as she is in town on vacation which was wonderful. We got to chat and it was fun. One of the other students had their young daughter with them who was dressed up and full of beans. This of course made for a very entertaining tea.

Also at the class were two kimono students, they were both lovely Japanese ladies. and both quite further advanced than I in their studies. One studies shamisen and is studying kimono as she needs to wear kimono for her practice. The other lady is younger and very nice and helpful. Needless to say, there was a lot of Japanese spoken and that always makes my head swim a bit, however, I learned a lot through watching the obi's going on and coming off multiple times. I am going to have to get used to the waves of Japanese language as this will be going on all month, next week I am just going to need to dive in and enjoy class, but I an quite glad I didn't have my kimono with me this week.

New Years sounds like it was a blast, there was a fashion show in Little Tokyo that I didn't hear about until it was too late., but everyone had a blast, here is a picture of the obi tying demonstration...

Sensei is in the middle explaining the finer points of tying a fukuro obi. I really wish I had made that one.

And now for the final part of this post. For the holidays this year I was gifted a variety of wonderful kimono gifts from my famiy. 

irst my dad bought me a wonderful kimono... 

 It was unlined but my dad covered that too. 

Here's a detail...

My husband very kindly chipped in with me to buy an okiro heater...

It is Omotesenke style as that is where our school traces it's roots back to.

This gift of course was to go with my moms gift to me, an okiro...

Mom also gifted me a beautiful kimono... 

It reminds me of the night sky...

Here is a closer detail...

I am now completely set up for tea. I may set up for practice and I plan to make tea this weekend.

Wish me luck!

The fading away of Fall

So this week I went for a kimono printed using a stencil pattern, this kind of textile dying is known as Katazome and is particular to Japan. I chose to wear this kimono this week as it looks like it is fall like with it's maple leaves and browns, golds and reds, but with a tinge of winter (the cream background). Given that next week is Solstice I felt that this would be the last chance to wear this kimono till next fall.

This was a great class I learned that even though some people in Japan share the same last name that their mon or family crest is different. In Scotland tartans are clan based but generally people with the same last name would share the same tartan, and it is not uncommon to have earned the right to wear mote than one. For example when I got married to my husband he wanted a traditional Scottish wedding. His brother played the pipes so that helped, I wore my families school tartan while he wore Royal Stuart which his great-grandfather had earned the right to wear while fighting in a Scottish battalion in the Khyber Pass. He had also earned the right to wear Blackwatch, however that is the colors of the Black and Tans who fought against the Irish including my family so that would have been a poor choice when marrying into my family.

Here are a couple of more shots from today...
After taking off my kimono I realized that I didn't get a good shot of my obi so you must forgive me slinging it over the back of the chair for this shot.

Here is a close up of the printing...

Here's a closer shot of a color transition in the small flower in the center of the shot, it really is quite beautiful...

Anyway that's it for me for this week, the next couple of weeks I will be on holiday so I may not post. Kind regards to all who celebrate as they will or not if they should so choose.

Back to class I go.

Getting back to class has been challenging, first my family had some health issues and then my Sensei went home to Japan for several weeks. Today was her first class after her trip, so I chose a nice kimono and designed a outfit around it myself. The kimono was an undecorated, single crested kimono in matcha green. The obi was cream with a hand painted orchid and gold flecking on it which I was told looked seasonal with the gold. My obiage was burgundy, my obijime, orange to gold with green fleck, between them they matched my gold and burgundy zori. I was happy with this look, and even got to sit on the tatami for tea. I have been practicing my sitting in the mornings, the kimono is a lot of help when I am sitting as it seems to cushion my legs and make me more comfortable.

Sunny came by during tea with his wonderful books so I bought a couple for gifts. They are beautifully illustrated and well researched. Sunny is such a pleasure to talk to, everyone at tea is so nice.

 

The Tale of the Lucky Cat seemed just right for my friends daughter while The Last Kippa of Old Japan is about water spirits and made sense for her little boy. We discussed the Kippa and Sunny compared them to the Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles, which makes total sense.





Now I need to start working on what to wear next week. This weeks outfit took me months to perfect, we will see what I can come up with in a week.

First Tea of the Season...

Today I was supposed to go to the first tea class of the season. Traditionally there is no tea served in August due to the hot weather. I for my part am on a long term assignment so I could not attend class today. Further, it was almost 100 degrees out, so when I did get home the last thing I wanted to do was to get into a kimono and make myself a cup of tea, which had been my fallback plan. Therefor all I am left to offer you is this very sweet Tray Tea video.