Kimono on a Wet Evening 20090227 ぱらぱら降る雨で着物

Last night it was only sprinkling lightly, so I decided to brave the weather and finally wear my new obi.

For the weather, before setting out, I wore this Ama-Coat (Kimono Rain Coat) of wine-red and blue and yellow stripes woven into a tsumugi fabric that a friend had given to me long ago. Over that, I wore my pinkish-purple shawl, fastened in front with a faux pearl pin. I also brought along a shopping bag to place my ama-coat and shawl in after I arrived and took it off.


For the rain I also wore my Ama-Geta that have coverings on the front to prevent to tabi-socks from getting wet and soiled. The geta are a type with two prongs to keep your feet a bit further up from the wet ground, so not easy, at least for me, to walk in, but I soon got used to them. One of the reasons I try to wear kimono at least once a month, practice, practice.


I wore my old favorite, this indigo tsumugi kimono with a woven kasuri pattern, which to me is the kimono equivalent of jeans. Though I wear often, it seems like I haven’t worn it in ages, and I forgot that the nagajuban under-kimono I wore with it this time has sleeves too long for the kimono. Unfortunately I only noticed after I was all dressed, so I had to somehow reach under my kimono at the bosom to pin up the nagajuban sleeves underneath to prevent them from hanging below the kimono at the sleeve openings.


So I finally got to wear my new obi, bought used at the Tansuya shop in the Ikebukuro Tobu department store. Ever since I saw the poster for the Tansuya special sale of Yuki Tsumugi kimono (here), I have developed a thing for obi with large flowers in a “Taishō Romance” style. This obi is basically a Nagoya obi, but I forget the name of the exact type of obi fabric, will have to go back to the shop and ask again. It has a woven design of peonies and chrysanthemums, so it can pretty much be worn all seasonally with either an awase or a hitoe, except probably for the very hottest months of summer.


I originally planned to accessorize it with a crimson red obiage sash and obijime cord, but then decided that it would be too dark for the kimono and I would prefer a lighter lavender shade to bring out the lavender-pink colors of some of the flowers in the obi. Once I got it on, the red obijime cord looked better, but I didn’t feel like re-trying the obi to wear a different obiage sash. I don’t have a pink obiage for winter, so next time maybe I will try my white-with-red-flowers obiage sash, or maybe my bright yellow obiage sash, or maybe I just need to buy a pink obiage sash? Hmmm? Opinions welcome.





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