Cherry Blossom Festival, 2007

I was in San Francisco Japantown the entire weekend helping out Taiko Dojo for Cherry Blossom Festival. Saturday, dressing in kimono was simply NOT going the way I wanted it - so I tossed off my outfit in a tantrum and just put black pants and my taiko dojo shirt on. Good thing I did though, as I must have subconsciously realized it was going to POUR down raining for most of the morning.

Sunday turned out much better and was a very beautiful day so I wore kimono. Despite being a very subtle outfit - I was extremely well received by many of the Japanese ladies wearing kimono who complimented me on my outfit and kistuke and asked where I got the pieces from. They all seemed to really love the striped kimono. It was a nice feeling, because I haven't had a chance to dress up all fancy in kimono for a while.

I was also lucky and ran into the lovely Marissa from my forum who was wearing a lovely and subtle kimono ensemble herself. She was kind enough to take a photo of my outfit:



(Pardon me squinting - it was really bright outside)

My outfit consisted of two pieces purchased from the Texuba sale and my obi purchased from Genji:
* Pink "juban" with large pinkish/red yabane pattern.
Actually - this "juban" is quite interesting. I came across it at the Texuba sale and fell in love with it immediately. It was in fantastic condition, gorgeously long sleeves (you know, back from when short sleeves were rather long)and a nice very lightweight silk. The only problem was it came to exactly my ankle length. I was rather disappointed, but then a thought occurred to me, I could probably wear it as a juban....and if I did - it would be the first juban I own that actually FITS me like a juban should, rather than having to make it a two piece, or take out the sides or what ever. So I purchased it and proceeded to sew a chikara nuno, white collar and ties on it. I also adjusted the sleeve length to fit perfectly under my brown striped kimono.

* Brown striped kimono.
I got this kimono from Texuba sale also - it actually fits me almost perfectly both length and width wise....a rarity for older kimono. I didn't realize until right before I purchased it that the sleeves had been shortened...but the way they had been shortened was really quite interesting and VERY easy to replicate without having to take the entire sleeve off - which is how I shortened my juban sleeves. I'll have to take a photo tutorial to share. So, I took my sleeves out and ended up with an extra 4 inches of sleeve length - with no discoloration or damage to the fabric that had been sewn up. Yay!

Chocolate Brown All Season Obi
I got this obi from Genji, in SFJT. I had been admiring it for quite some time, and when came to visit - I finally caved in and purchased it. It is this amazing satin feeling chocolate brown with a rinzu pattern of cute ume and young bamboo leaves. The pattern on the front and back (that you cannot see in the photo) is of two fans. One fan is a nice antique gold colour with fuchsia peony inside, the other fan is turquoise with chrysanthemum inside. I've never seen an obi before in such a lush brown colour. I originally had thought of wearing my fuchsia obiage and obijime set with the outfit, but in the end I felt the soft blue shibori obiage and soft blue and white obijime complimented much better.

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend. It felt good to be doing taiko festival stuff again. Next weekend is going to be even more busy with my performance at noon on Saturday, the concert Saturday night and then participating in the parade on Sunday. fun Fun FUN! :D