FURICLE- for japanese kimono and yukata fan – ページ 10

2014/03/262014/03/25

Footwear for kimono

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There are two major footwear, zori (Japanese sandals) and geta (Japanese clogs) when dressed up in kimono. It is unexpectedly hard to define difference between the zori and the geta, but it is general to consider wooden footwear as the geta and others as the zori.

The geta is considered as footwear for daily use, on the other hand, the zori can be widely used for formal occasions to daily use. Though the zori can be divided into for formal use and daily use, it is for the formal occasion if the heel is high and for daily use if it is low. Particularly, those zori having finished base (where foot is on) with rush or bamboo sheath is considered as the footwear in summer.

However, it is not needed to stick to the tradition except formal ceremonies. There are some people who wears standard sandals in wearing yukata, but there is no concern on it if it is matched.It is considered cool for wearing both a bit small zori and geta to let the heels run out of back edge.

Please be careful to choose footwear for kimono because a bit smaller one does not give you feel difficulty in walking but a large one does. It is a distinction of footwear having same shape for both left and right is the traditional one when dressed up in kimono. Regularly swapping of left and right footwear prevent wearing only one side and expand a life span of them.

2014/03/252014/03/25

The role of accessory for dressing kimono

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Accessory for dressing kimono indicates an auxiliary item which cannot be seen from outside among the accessory used when wearing kimono. Though a variety of items are used according to the style of those who dress kimonos, the necessary items are basically waist strap, Datejime, batten plate and sash pillow, and the other special items are the modification of basic items.

Waist strap is a strap to fix the kimono to the body. One is literally fastened around the waist, the other one is also fastened at the chest not to flutter the collar. The strap fastened at the chest is called Munehimo, which is the same shape as waist strap.

Though waist cord is only for kimono, chest cord is used for both singlet and kimono, and also the cord is used for auxiliary cord when fastening each cord, which means 4 cords are needed in total.

Datejime is cord to fasten above the chest cord, whose role is to keep the collar part from getting out of shape and to cover the knot of chest cord and loosen cloth. Since it is used for both singlet and kimono, 2 cords are needed in total. Cord plate is used to prevent the front of the cord from wrinkling. Sash pillow prevent the cord from getting down by forming a drum base, and it is not used for half-width obi.

2014/03/242014/03/24

Undershirt for a kimono

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The juban is worn just under a kimono, but the undershirts for the upper part and the lower part respectively are worn under the juban: for the upper part of body called hadajuban, the lower part of the body called a koshimaki or a waist cloth.

These undershirts are aimed to protect a juban from staining and against the cold. For this reason, it can be omitted to wear these undershirts if wearing washable juban during hot season, but it gives you feel being secured to wear the undershirts for absorbing the sweat as much as possible in considering oozing the stain from the sweat through kimono

Any clothes can be used for the purpose of the hadajuban and the koshimaki because they are never seen from the outside. Because it is difficult to wear the split undershirts for the upper and lower parts of body if not used to, there is also an underslip for kimono for a kimono on the market.

It doesn’t matter to wear undershirts for ordinary clothes; it is, however, better to wear the one of which style allows to absorb the sweat in armpits.

In addition, please be careful to select the one which has low neck as much as possible in consideration of being seen the back resulting from pulling down the collar of kimono.

To wear traditional undershirts for kimono, wear the koshimaki prior to wearing the hadajuban.
In general, the hadajuban has no straps or buttons to fix the front. Wear the juban while overlapping the front of the hadajuban and hold it by tying the straps of the juban.

2014/03/232014/03/23

How to reposition “a pulled up back collar” to a pulled down position?

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When wearing a kimono, the back portion of collar shall be “pulled down”, but if it is not properly pulled down, somebody may say “your back collar is “pulled up”. Though the back collar is properly pull down upon completing the dress up in kimono, it might be pulled up towards the neck due to the weight of kimono etc.

In that case, the pulled up collar causes to make sides and front of kimono loosened and which makes overall appearance in kimono deteriorated. To prevent the pulled up back collar, a caution shall be taken when wearing the juban.

When wearing the juban, pull it down the back until the back collar is pulled down to a proper position, and then, hold it using a thin fabric belt. It is also convenient if a long, narrow strip of cloth is stitched at the back of collar: this cloth is called “imonnuki” or “a cloth for properly position the back collar”.

Nevertheless, the back collar is pulled up, it might not be pulled down to a proper position and it will be pulled up in a short while. If it is a case, please go to a place to shun the eyes of others such as in a comfort room, and daringly pull up the hem of kimono, and then, pull down the back of juban. If the imonnuki or a long, narrow strip of cloth is stitched at the back of collar, the pulled up collar can be pulled down to a proper position by pulling it down.

When the collar of juban is properly positioned, the collar of kimono is also properly positioned along with it. When it is done, please adjust the peeped out haneri.

2014/03/222014/03/23

Emon (the collar of a kimono)

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Upon wearing a kimono, there is a turn of phrase “emon o nuku” (pull down the back portion of collar), and the “emon” in this phrase is mean to say the collar, particularly, it is meant to say the back portion of collar.

There is also a turn of phrase “emon o awaseru”, and the “emon” in this phrase is meant to say the front portion of collar.

It is unknown what the turn of phrase “emon o nuku” meant to say is, but there is an opinion that it has begun to use the phrase out of practice to pull down the back portion of collar of a kimono until a position for not the hair being touched during the time when the voluminous back hair was popular when setting the hair. Now, it is used as one of techniques to show beautiful appearance in wearing a kimono.

How large portion shall be pulled down is different depending on a kimono, and the basically, the more refined kimono needs the more large back portion of collar to be pulled down; therefore, the back portion of collar in wearing a bridal kimono is pulled down until a position on which the back of bride could be almost seen.

For a daily worn kimono, it is said to be better to pull down until a position where the fist is about to fit between the neck and collar. For the most casual kimono, yukata, it is said to be approximately at a position for two fingers.

In addition, it is said to be better for elderly women to pull down lower than younger women.
However, there is a fashionable trend of how lower to pull down, and it is preference of a person to wear kimono at all.It tends to pull down smaller for those who are not got used to wear kimono, so it might be just good if pull it down to feel rather lower.

2014/03/212014/03/21

Haneri (Neckpiece)

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Neckpiece is the collar of the undergarment that is slightly visible from the collar of the kimono. However, this refers to the cloth that is sewed to the collar of the undergarment rather than the collar itself.

The reason that the neckpiece is sewed to the collar of the undergarment is because the collar is the part that becomes dirty most easily. The neckpiece helps washing possible because you only need to remove the separate collar.

Nowadays, it mostly represents the meaning of decoration, and things like embroidered neckpiece that seems impossible to wash are also introduced. White is often used on formal costumes, but it’s not necessarily plain white, white garment sewed with light color thread or garment with beads sewed upon it are also often used.

Especially in the case of furisode, the gorgeously embroidered neckpiece in garish colors are often used. On the contrary, even though the color-patterned neckpiece is often used for casual kimono, there is no problem to use the plain white neckpiece at all.

It’s a tradition to show the neckpiece mostly in formal but not casual occassions, but if the color-patterned neckpiece is suitable for casual occasion, it’s considered a good thing to make the neckpiece stand out and visible in many cases.

2014/03/202014/03/20

Momi

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Momi is a type of cloth made from red silk. Originally the name was used to describe plain fabric dyed with turmeric and then safflower, and it was characteristic for the incredibly vivid colors. Because both turmeric and safflower are medical herbs, it was said that they were good for health and so they were often used to dye women’s undershirts and the lining of their kimonos.

However, there was one drawback – the colors from the dyed momi could easily transfer onto other garments. The colors from the lining would often bleed into the kimono, and the lining could be stained by the colors of the undershirt. Moreover, because it’s difficult and expensive to use natural dyes,

the momi isn’t produced the way it used to be made before.

The momi cloth made today is recreated with chemical dyes. It’s easier on the wearers because they don’t have to worry about the color transferring to their other clothes, but if you compare them, it is slightly different from the originally made cloth.

Although it’s barely made anymore, the original momi is still being sold in some places as a part of old kimonos. If you aren’t careful, its colors will seep into your other garments, so if you see a kimono lining or undershirt with bright colors, ask someone who knows a lot about kimonos to make sure you know what you’re buying.

2014/03/192014/03/19

Juban (an underwear worn with kimono)

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Juban is a type of underwear which you wear under your kimono, but is very important because it forms the fundamental part of your kimono. For formal kmonos, it is a custom to wear white juban, but other than that there is no particular rules.

Juban’s orginal role is to prevent the kimono from getting dirty by sweat, etc. Therefore, the size of juban is required to be nearly the same as the kimono, and does not show from the hem of the kimono. If you are wearing ready-made kimonos which are made by standard sizes, or kimonos made to fit your size, then you can reuse one juban for those kimonos.

However, if you’re wearing given kimonos or recycled kimonos, then you have to choose a juban that matches the sleeve width or sleeve length of the kimono you want to wear. To resolve this problem, jubans which sleeves are easily detachable are commonly seen recently.

Juban’s another role is to fix and maintain the shape of the collar. For that purpose, you attach haneri, and put in the erishin. As for the material of juban, silk was common in the past, but nowadays for common types, cotton is used for the corsage, and polyester is used for the collar and the sleeves to make it easier to wash.

2014/03/182014/03/18

Doura (body lining)

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Doura is a kind of back fabric of kimono, which is used in the area near the body. You can image that there is hakkake around doura

Compared to hakkake which can be seen from front, doura cannot be seen from front, so not the look but the functionality is made much of. Generally, habutae, which is solf and smooth, is used for doura. However, polyester doura should be used for polyester kimono because it cannot be washed, which is a special feature of washable kimono. Sometimes cheap and strong cotton doura is used for making tsumugi and casual komon.

Doura is basically white, but sometimes colored or patterned doura is used, which is a “hidden fashion”.

Sometimes doura of old kimono is discolored unevenly. This is because the old glue used for doura got discolored. The original color cannot be restored.
Please don’t worry about discoloring because now the quality of glue is better than before and this symptom doesn’t appear in the new doura. Unlike mold, glue won’t spread soon. But you will be worried about keeping your kimono whose front fabric is closely attached to the glue which might get discolored. It is recommended that you should replace doura of your precious kimono.

2014/03/172014/03/17

Hakkake

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Hakkake is a kind of back fabric of kimono, which is used in the area near the edge of a lined kimono. Different from European clothes, you can see Hakkake exposed a little from the front. This is for protecting edges of kimono which are easy to get worn. Hakkake of hems and cuffs will get worn first.

Old Hakkake will be replaced with a new one at a specialty store. Several kinds of fabric will be used for Hakkake: general fabric for Hakkake, self fabric and special fabric for front. There is a custom that self fabric is used for formal kimono. Both the self fabric and another fabric are used in other kimonos.

There are hakkake of monotone color and gradation color. Hakkake of gradation color is called “bokashi hakkake”. This is for keeping the boundary line of hakkake and dori from falling on the front fabric of faint color. You can decide which hakkake to use on your preference because there is no rule.

The color of hakkake will make effect on the impression of kimono. This is why sometimes people change hakkake which is still unworn, when they get tired of it.