Obi for the new yukata

I had a half-day off today (I'm working Wednesday and Friday this week, so don't think I'm slacking!) and ironically I went shopping  at a department store (!) with a friend.  For some reason when I got home, I thought of the new yukata and wanted to looked at my obi collection to see what will go with it.

Detail of the new yukata fabric (See previous post for the story)

Olive green silk shippo pattern obi

It looks like I have two candidates- an olive green shippo (Sometimes spelled shippou) pattern and a black and cream wool patterned hanhaba obi. Shippo or shippo-tsunagi is a pattern of interlocking circles signifying the seven treasures of Buddhism. This obi is really wonderful since the texture is like a hakata obi  and it's 12" wide, so you have to fold it in half. It's unlined as well. I love it for yukata or komon kimono and since it's wide, it makes a wonderful-looking bunko musubi.

Cream and black "kara-ori" pattern hanhaba obi

The cream and black obi was sold to me as "kawari" but it could be a misspelling of "kara ori", meaning the pattern is of Chinese origin. I can't find very much information on this so I'm not sure if it's accurate. It's a hanhaba, so only 6" wide and appropriate for a yukata or komon kimono. It's a bit heavy, very "woolly" in feeling and appears to be woven in one piece; it's also fairly soft, so it will be interesting to work with. I haven't worn it yet. I think this one probably looks best with the yukata since the olive green shippo doesn't have as much contrast.

For the rest of the ensemble, I'm probably going to turn to my favorite black bunny geta and probably dress up the obi with the cream + bronze obijime shown in the last post.

New bronze and cream obijime

Black bunny geta

Handbag? I'm not sure. I don't have anything cream, black, or olive but I do have dark red with black trim. That might be good for adding a little color contrast and to pick up the red bits in the geta. I'll have to figure out a day to wear the new stuff  very soon!
Cheers,
reb