September 29, 2010

An exciting Japanese Cultural event in Phoenix

Information provided by Ro Ho En in Phoenix, Arizona 
JAPANESE FRIENDSHIP GARDEN INVITES THE PUBLIC FOR
ANNUAL MOONVIEWING FESTIVAL 
Otsukimi

When: Saturday, October 23, from 5:00 pm to 9:00 p.m. Gates open at 4:30 p.m.
Where: Ro Ho En, the Japanese Friendship Garden of Phoenix, 1125 N. 3 rd Ave. (just north of Roosevelt )
Tickets at Gate Only: $18 for Adults, $10 Youth (6-12), free 5 and under    (Includes entertainment, food, and beverage) 
No advanced tickets sales, No reservations, Tickets limited 
     In Japan, the beauty of the full moon has been cause for celebration for 1,100 years, inspiring autumn nights of food, drink, and poetry under the stars. Now, Phoenix will get a taste of this elegant harvest tradition at Otsukimi, a moonviewing festival to be held at the Japanese Friendship Garden on Saturday, October 23.
     Guests will be able to admire the moon while strolling the peaceful, 3½ acre garden and enjoying a variety of relaxing cultural activities. An outdoor stage will showcase live performances, including taiko drumming and traditional Japanese folk dancing. Guided tours of the tea garden will be offered throughout the evening, and there will be tea ceremony demonstrations as well. Authentic seasonal Japanese foods and a small outdoor market will offer a taste and feel of Japan.
     This event is sponsored by the Japanese Friendship Garden of Phoenix, Inc., a 501(c)3 organization in partnership with the City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department.

Nagoya obi: tying it yourself.

Nagoya obi part 2: tying obiage

Tying a Fukuro Obi

September 14, 2010

Hawks and autumn flowers

A new obi arrived from Ichiroya, a lovely crisp jinken ( jinken is rayon but it seems more like a silk-rayon blend) Nagoya obi with a fabulous design of perching hawks and chrysanthemums! The hawk has a playful look, peering upside down amongst the flowers. I love the touches of black; it makes the other colors really pop. The coolest thing about it is that is seems to go with almost everything I have, including the purple Meisen komon kimono.
The background color is a very pale, icy green and the palest creamy-gold and the design is woven. It is very colorful and rich-looking, probably because it also has a bit of metallic/shiny gold thread in it, so that makes it a bit dressier-looking than I had anticipated. It's in good shape for a vintage light-colored obi, just a slight patina in places and one little dark spot in a place where you will not see it once it's tied. Soon I will be pairing it with various kimono  and I will post photos!
~rebecca

The Hawk Nagoya  obi.

Detail of the noble-looking hawk with pink and blue wings.


September 5, 2010

Sapporo Beer Commercial - Legendary Biru

Pink, magenta, fuchsia....can't get enough pink

Apparently I can't stay away from pink, especially hot pinks! I realized I have a bunch of pink kimono items now. A few items arrived yesterday; mystery items I got on ebay as part of a lot being sold by an antique dealer. What I thought looked like an obiage turned out to be a pristine gorgeous silk heko obi. How can you tell the difference between a heko obi and an obiage? Silk heko obi are wider and longer than obiage and the nicer ones (Like this one) are heavier weight fabric than obiage. This one is probably meant for a teen girl, but these have become fashionable for adult women when worn very casually with yukata or even komon kimono. This obi is really nice and I love the lemony yellow shibori. There are even tiny cotton threads  in the fabric from where the shibori pattern was made. The size is 18" x 106". There was also a fabulous hot pink flat obi jime and 2 koshihimo in the same order. There was a pair of hot pink zori included but I think they are too damaged (And too small) to wear.
Magenta heko obi detail
The magenta heko obi
More pink stuff! I have a modest amount of these obijime (A cord used to help tie different types of obi knots) , but a third of them are some shade of pink! The new obijime that came with the heko obi is on the bottom of this image.
Five obijime
Carmine pink obiage
Magenta obiage


These are my two pink obiage: One is a nice bright magenta and the other a full-shibori in a shade of pink I will call "carmine" for lack of a better description.The full-shirbori is more formal than the other.
Coral pink hakata obi

This is my ever-versatile pink hakata obi. It goes with so many things and is so easy to tie. Nice and crisp.
Below on the right is a nagoya obi that has a woven stylized rose pattern. It's probably shioze silk. It's a bit slippery, kind of like satin. Difficult to keep tied.

Rose nagoya obi
Detail of the sensu komon fabric
Sensu komon
Pink isn't just about accessories! Here is one seriously iki pink kimono! This one is really fun, it's a very deep navy komon covered in medium pink sensu, folding fans. The lining is a buttery yellow and the hakkake is lighter pink. The most awesome thing about this is that it's long- 65.7", so that means it's more than long enough. Unfortunately, the wingspan is only 51", but I'm used to that. I doubt I will ever find a kimono with a wingspan to fit my 54.5" long arms unless I have it custom made. I don't really have an obi for this one yet, but maybe soon. I'm thinking light yellow, turquoise, pale lime green might be fun. The best part? I got it on ebay for a penny. Seriously!
Last bit-o-pink!
I snatched up these ultra cute coral pink zori at the Monterey Peninsula Obon Festival for about $10. The color is real similar to the pink hakata obi. The cream colored inserts look a bit like snake skin and have a pebbled texture. They are not leather though, just vinyl. They were in their original box!
Have a great holiday weekend!
~reb