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Hachimitsu
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Post by Hachimitsu »

I thought I could embed the vid myself, but it does not seem like it. Oh wells.

Awww, thanks Prim for saying I have sparkle. :love:

I will mention some Japanese historical stuff, so here is a run down on some of the different historical periods that will be mentioned.

Heian period 794 AD - 1185 AD
Sengoku period (Warring states period) 1467 AD - 1573 AD
Edo (or Tokugawa) period 1603 AD-1868AD
Taisho period 1912 AD - 1926 AD
Showa period 1926 AD - 1989 AD

Some basic rules of Kimono.

Black and some design somewhere on the kimono means extremely formal. Crests (sort of like white dot emblems) means formal. An all black kimono with no other colours is mourning wear.

The older a person is the more subdued in colours and design their outfits are. Ex: A formal outfit for a young woman: a long sleeved kimono, has really bright colours, and tons of pattern. A formal outfit for a 90 year old lady is a black kimono, with short sleeve panels and 2 small trees above the hem. It's sort of hard to tell at first, but after a while a person can see what outfits work for a young person and a mature person. (A young lady in a old lady's outfit is really easy for me to spot now. )
For more check out the previous post on the kimono display.

Matching the kimono motif with the current season is important.

The blanket term for hair ornaments is Kanzashi. There are several different kinds this wiki article will be helpful.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanzashi

The type I will be mentioning the most is Hana Kanzashi (Hana = flower).

Obi = sash

Some basics on the sumptuary laws. Merchants were among the the lowest class of citizens, yet as merchants grew wealthy they could afford more luxurious clothing then those of higher classes. (Merhcants were beneath peasants.) During the Edo period of Japan I think only Samurai were allowed to carry swords. In the anime series Mononoke, set in the Edo period of Japan, a merchant reveals he has a sword. Every time this happens, the people around him are usually shocked, since it's against the law for that character to carry a sword. (Yep that is right, I am gonna try and bring it back to anime.)

The previous post with history of kimono, explains much about the history of Kimono and how sumptuary laws affected kimono.


A big part of why I like learning about clothes, is that they are a reflection of the technology available a the time, and say a lot about what is expected of certain age groups, economic classes and even how important it is to show if you are married or not.


Many of the ensembles were put together by the Toronto Kimono Club. C contacted many people and asked them if they would be willing to lend pieces from their private collections.

As you can see from the pictures, many of them I could only get in the green room. Some of the other fashion show people don't have any personal pictures of themselves (I heard the heartbreak after the con). Because of this I would like to set up some kind of photo oppourtunity so stuff can be showcased at it's best.


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Western Dress made out of an old Kimono
Kimonos are made out of one bolt of fabric. It is basically a bolt cut into 4 panels and sewn together. Historically when kimonos were cleaned the seams would be ripped out and the 4 panels washed seperately and then the kimono would be sewn back together. If the kimono was unwearable, the fabric for the kimono could be reused for something else. (Many Kimonos taken from Japan after WWII were turned into drapes in the US).

Here is a cool site where there are purses made out of old kimono fabric.


Model C made the dress and the flower Kanzashi, which were also made out of the old kimono. Model C is the Kimono fashion show co-coordinator and she worked really hard making the show happen and on top of that making the kimono display in the gallery area of the con. She also made many of the flower kanzashi the models wear in the kimono fashion show.

Here is her site
http://www.etsy.com/shop/KurokamiKanzashi

:bow:



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Repurposed child's kimono
This model is wearing a repurposed child’s kimono with a corset and pants. Perfect outfit for a night on the town. Funny thing, the model bought a flower kanzashi to go with the outfit, and the co-coordinator picked the same hair kanzashi from her collection for the model to wear. Brain twins!!
I truly never would have thought of turning a child's outfit into a shirt. Looks so nice!!

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Wafrica yukata

This Yukata was made by the fashion show co-ordinator from fabric purchased in Angola and paired with accessories from Namibia
Zoom in and you can see her hair sticks have zebras on them.
I put up a before shot of the kimono and you can see how much accessories are really important top the look of an outfit.

I really liked that she added long sleeves to the casual style of the yukata, not to mention matching up the pattern so nicely.

The fashion line called WAfrica was created by car designer Serge Mouange. He travelled to Japan for car design work and thought of that putting African fabrics with Kimono would be an awesome idea. He had immigrated from Cameroon to France as a child. He got together with a Japanese kimono making company to create his WAfrica line
Here is his Wafrica site and some pics of some of his kimono. (The blue stripy one I wants, but it's designer so I will just dream about it.)

It's quite amazing the African fabrics and Japanese kimono work so well together. I can't seem to identify what is it about these two things that seem to work so well? Also how do these fit into rules of when to wear them? Do they count as geometric designs? I am a bit surprised no one thought of putting these two things together before.

WAfrica, is a combination of Wafuku (traditional Japanese dress) and the continent of Africa.


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Yukata
A yukata is a light summer Kimono made out of cotton, with bright prints. It is the most casual of kimono. They originated from robes provided at hot springs. They are always unlined and always made of cotton. They are usually worn at summer festivals. If a person starts kimono collecting this is the type of kimono to start out with since it's the easiest to learn how to get dressed.

In countless anime series whenever there is a summer festival there is a scene where the boy(s) see the girls in their yukata looking pretty.

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Steam punk
A kimono worn with steam punk elements. I really like this as it shows the flexibility of the kimono. I really like what she did with the different type of collars. Somehow it all works.
Model M also made flower kanzashi for the fashion show, here is her site: http://www.etsy.com/shop/magpiecanada

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Wa Lolita.
This outfit is a kimono styled to the Gothic Lolita style. This is a full Kimono that has been creatively folded to look shorter. There are several different types of Gothic Lolita styling and this is called Wa Lolita as it is a combination of Wafuku (Japanese traditional) and Gothic Lolita. Almost all Kimono actually fall to the floor, there are some designed to trail on the floor (like the some later models will have), but most Kimonos lengths are adjusted by a tuck at the waist. Lengths in kimono only become a big problem if a person is very tall. (Usually westerners)

This model is so cute!! (Kawaii!!!)



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Taisho Roman
Kimono worn during the Taisho period (1912-1926)
Kimono had brighter colours, larger, bolder patterns and longer sleeve panels then today. These Kimonos are pre-WWII and when sold today they are cost more than the average used kimono, particularly if they are in excellent condition. (Taisho styling is so cool!!) This was near the end of the time, when kimono was daily dress for most women. Men had been moved to western fashions at this point, since men went out and worked and women stayed home. Western clothing had slowly been coming in, since Japan had been forced to open after several centuries of being closed to foreigners. Western clothing was used in business and work. As western clothes were quite practical for factory work. (There are several cool historical photos of families in kimono and the man of the house in Western accessories. Even bath towels used as accessories. They took whatever western fashions they could get.)
I found a vintage family pic here

I find it interesting that the fashion of the 1920's was just as cool and interesting as fashion in the west during the 1920's, and still had the 20's "vibe", even though it's Eastern fashion.
Last edited by Hachimitsu on Sun Aug 07, 2011 12:18 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Hachimitsu
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Post by Hachimitsu »

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Kimono –hime

Winter wear with kimono hime elements. The shawl is worn covering the head. The pink top is a short coat. I really like the winter scene on the bottom of the kimono.

Kimono-hime * is kimono styling with high class or vintage western fashion accessories like hats, boas, shawls, gloves and western shoes.

Here is a blog link that talks about the magazine and a links to some sample outfits from Immortal Geisha’s wiki

*hime means princess.


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Western fabric kimono
This model made this kimono out of western fabrics. (It’s very difficult to sew a full kimono) :bow: If no one told me I wouldn’t know. She did a spectacular job.


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EDIT: I found a picture of the under kimono (juban) :D
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Bingata Kimono

The bingata dying technique originated from Okinawa and was mainly reserved for court wear in the Ryuku Kingdom (now Okinawa). Today Bingata is used in dance ceremonies and historical reenactments. This kimono is isn’t real Bingata but done in the Bingata style. Bingata has bright colours and very intricate nature designs. The dying technique is quite intricate. Here is some info on Bingata.

Unfortunately I forgot to get a picture of the under kimono, which was very elaborate. (It was bright yellow with similar designs as this outer kimono. Most under kimono are very elaborate and luxurious, due to sumptuary laws in the past, where certain types of luxury outfits and colours were outlawed for certain classes, so people would hide the luxury and flashiness in their under kimono. Since red was outlawed for a while, many under kimono were dyed red.)

True Bingata is very very expensive. Bingata picture

The first time I learned about Bingata was through the manga of Ouran High School Host Club. (The host club all dressed in Bingata)


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Sword student
A type of outfit a sword student would wear which would be a kimono and hakama ( a type of pants or skirt for both men or women), that goes over the bottom of a kimono. Hakama can also be used to extend the life of an old kimono if the bottom is damaged.

There are quite a few outfits like this in various anime. (One that comes to mind is Bleach.)


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Graduation outfit

A kimono worn with hakama
The kimono is called a kofurisode (for female), and has very long sleeves, since it's a formal kimono. The Kofurisode only has a pattern on top and blank on the bottom. A co-ordinating hakama has a pattern on the bottom. This type of outfit goes for both men and women. Basically a very dressy version of the student outfit.


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Kuromontsuki furisode

The most formal type of outfit an umarried woman can wear. Black denotes formality. A furisode is a long sleeved formal kimono for unmarried women. The longer the sleeve panels are the more formal a furisode is. (They show up time to time in anime and manga. I remember one being in the manga for xxxHolic and it was actually a talking point in the panel).

Notice that the pattern extends up over her shoulder. For some kimono depending on formality and marital status, the pattern can’t go above the waist.

I will also note obi tie styles for furisode can get elaborate as seen here. The average obi tie seen previously is called the drum knot or taiko musubi. This obi knot was most likely a variation on the Chubby Sparrow musubi.

Another note on this particular obi, I actually wore this obi the year before with a furisode and you can see how the accessories make this obi look different.

From now on it gets a bit complicated.

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Kurotomesode

This is the most formal type of kimono for a married woman. This is the type of outfit the mother of the bride would wear . Because of the type of fabric this particular kimono is made of (it’s sheer), and judging by the design this would be on the lower end of formality, and for the summer or spring. (So this outfit was perfectly in season for Anime North.) Notice the pattern is below the waist. Also notice the obi drum is flatter, as married woman's obi tie drum is less fluffy.

From now on my posts are going to be a bit slower, and many more images in a post.
Last edited by Hachimitsu on Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:14 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Hachimitsu
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Post by Hachimitsu »

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Real life couple!!

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Maiko or Hangyoku
A Maiko is an apprentice geisha. Maiko means dancing girl. (Hangyoku means half jewel.) Maiko dress very elaborately in furisode and are the only people nowadays who wear the long obi called darari obi (costly). Maiko wear much more elaborate hair ornaments and kimono then full geisha and they always have red in their collar. Maiko also usually wear their kimono quite long and then have it pinned up or tied up to show some of the under kimono and their shoes.

The darari obi tie is tied such that it the obi trails in the back and swings behind the maiko as she walks. The obi in the back has a crest of the house to denote formality. (The white dot thing at the bottom of the obi.)

Maiko also can wear crazy shoes called okobo, which have a bell inside. (Why do the Japanese like shoes that are tripping hazards?)

Due to the weight of the fabric and the design on the kimono, this is a fall kimono with bellflower kanzashi, the flower for September. Since geisha and maiko go through so many outfits, they usually sell their old ones.

Note the hairstyle and the amount of different types of Kanzashi. It’s one of the of the several ways a person can tell a maiko from a geisha.

Historically (in the Edo period) in the history of Geisha, the first women who started to call themselves Geisha were women who used to be dancing girls, when they were younger.


Album of her getting ready

For a very detailed description of this particular kimono check out the "furisode through the ages" post upthread.
Last edited by Hachimitsu on Mon Aug 08, 2011 7:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Hachimitsu
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Post by Hachimitsu »

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Geisha

This is a fully fledged geisha. Geisha wear much more subdued and toned down outfits, then maiko. They wear shorter sleeves and have white collars (rather then the red and white collars of maiko). As a geisha matures she will have more plain and subdued kimono. All kimono for woman must be worn showing some of the neck and back. Depending on single or married status a woman has to show more back. At some points in history, married women had to show quite a bit of the back. (They actually have these expensive collar things, that a person has to put on to prevent the kimono form sliding up, like mine did last year. Fortunately our coordinator made these collar stay thingies, for almost every single model.)

Geisha wear shorter sleeves as they are at the age to marry and have refused marriage. When a geisha marries she has to retire. It is strictly a single woman’s occupation.

Due to the type of flowers on the kimono, this outfit is for fall. This kimono is an example of specificity of seasonality expected of kimono wearing. This kimono in particular would be “in”, for at most 2 weeks in early fall due to when the flowers depicted on this kimono are in bloom. Also notice the obi has the same flowers as the kimono does. The obi and other accessories all also have to be fall appropriate.


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Note the hair style. All of the wigs in the kimono fashion show belonged to collectors and are carefully maintained. The hair is waxed to maintain the hairstyle specific to maiko, geisha, etc… and the ribbons in the hair usually stay in the wig. (I have seen wigs that have not been maintained. It’s pretty sad.)
The hana kanzashi can be added and removed pretty easily. From what I heard from the wig wearers, the wigs were pretty heavy.

Geisha have much more subdued kanzashi and usually wear combs and sticks. (This geisha model had a tortoise shell combs that were inlaid with mother of pearl.) For the comb and stick variety of kanzashi, they usually were tortoise or ivory. (There is one kind of material for warm months and one kind for cold months). The rest of the combs that were ordered didn’t arrive in time so the co-ordinator made some hana kanzashi (bell flower) to match the maiko. Geisha only occasionally wear hana kanzashi. She also has a metal stick kanzashi and a wind chime type kanzashi, called bira-kanzashi.

(The stuff ordered were antique combs from Japan, and turned out to be real tortoise shell, which can cause issues since tortoises are endangered. This caused shipping issues, since although they are antique combs, the shipping of them could show a demand for tortoise shell, which would be awful. So there are very strict rules on the shipping of genuine antique items made from endangered animals. Now, they use substitute materials and they are dyed the lightish-brown colour tortoise shell has.)

The fan is an odori (dance) fan.

I want to say here this model is a personal friend and an experienced cosplayer, so she did the appropriate geisha poses accurately. :love:

Geisha are entertainers skilled in many forms of music and classic entertainment. (Apparently there is this awesome handstand they do as a party tricks :shock: ) Nowadays a geisha could be hired as an entertainer for a business party, or business dinner. (Business entertainment is a huge industry in Japan.)

The occupation of geisha started in the Edo period. The first geisha were actually men and they were entertainers in the pleasure quarters. The pleasure quarters were a walled off area of a city, surrounded by a moat where prostitution was legal. (In readings some readings, the authors have called them red light districts. ) Picture of the entrance to the Yoshiwara district in Tokyo

Prostitutes needed a license to practice prostitution, and customers could only stay for one night. Pleasure districts were put in place to prevent high class customers from finding too much about the court through high class prostitutes called oiran (courtesan), and keeping prostitution contained. There were many forms of entertainment to be had including the beginnings of kabuki. (Early kabuki actresses were also prostitutes (yujo), which is why women were banned from kabuki).

Women who were former dancing girls, started calling themselves geisha after the initial male entertainers called geisha. There are apparently a few male geisha that still exist.

Geisha were not prostitutes, they were entertainers. Geisha did not have a license to practice prostitution. (To get an idea of how disliked an unlicensed prostitute was, the name for them was Jigoku shougo which means hell girl, or hell woman.)
A volunteer dressed as an Edo geisha in the Tokyo festival of ages.

Geisha were allowed to travel in and out of some pleasure districts while oiran were not allowed to leave. So geisha became hip and happening trend setters and were always on the cutting edge of fashion and entertainment. Due to geisha being current, customers preferred to go to geisha and the profession of oiran died out in the 1700’s.

The profession of geisha provided education, food and shelter for people who gave their girls up to the tea house. Training for geisha would mean apprenticing as a maiko (apprentice geisha), and would start in childhood at 9 or 10. (Nowadays I think the youngest is around 17 or 18. )

When western clothes started coming in, some geisha being the hip fashionistas they were expected to be, wore high fashion western clothing. Which gives an idea of how different geisha are viewed now. Another example of geisha being on the cutting edge of fashion, is that it was a geisha who invented the now most common obi knot, the drum knot (taiko musibi).

When WWII happened the profession of geisha changed; many geisha women went to work in factories, and many hadn't returned to the profession after the war, as more employment opportunities opened up for women.

When Japan was occupied many street prostitutes (yujo), called themselves geisha to the US military. (If one thinks about it, calling yourself some high class entertainer to one who does not know better, could get a prostitute more money.) I will state here geisha have never officially been prostitutes, even from the very beginnings of the profession, since they didn’t have a license for prostitution. I will admit the lines are blurry and if a person does further reading from some names mentioned in Wikipedia, there is historical credence to coerced sex. But sex for pay was more under the table. Officially, the profession of geisha is not prostitution. Nowadays geisha has nothing to do with prostitution.

After WWII, due to the massive social change occurring in Japan, the practice of being a geisha became focused on preserving traditional arts and culture of Japan.

To the maiko, the geisha would be her senior and the maiko would call her onee –san (older sister). They had the maiko model say that any time the geisha model pass by.

This pic is sort of helpful in showing the difference between a maiko (background) and geisha (foreground). It also shows the basic difference of kimono wear for young and old. Younger person, bright and a bit outrageous, older much more subdued. Notice the colour, long sleeves, all over pattern and hana kanzashi on the maiko. Notice the dot crests on the geisha's shoulders. Whenever there are 2 crests on the front, there must be 3 on the back, making these 5 crested kimono, that are black which is of the highest formality. Notice also the pattern is below the waist. the older a women gets the closer the pattern creeps to the hem on formal kimono. I mentioned earlier a 90 year old lady would have a black kimono with crests, and just 2 little tress above the hem.

Geisha and maiko follow the general rules of kimono fashion very strictly. They are still fashionistas in a classical sense. If a seasonal design is on a kimono, they must wear the kimono in the season the design is set in. (The same thing goes with hana kanzashi and other kanzashi as certain materials are for certain seasons.) Because of design specificity (some outfits can only be “in” for less than a fortnight), geisha and maiko go through many outfits, and some sell their old outfits.

These rules on seasonality and age are the same for general kimono wearing (for both men and women), but nowhere near as strict. I also notice geisha rarely wear geometric patterned kimono. Geometric kimono are season neutral and can be worn any time of year. (They do wear non-patterned kimono and those are season neutral too. Older geisha, like late forties and later, usually will wear these.)

A woman or geisha wearing kimono in motif’s usually for men is a very strong statement. I have seen a geisha kimono with a large dragon it. That is a very strong statement of assertiveness and independence, but quite fitting since geisha are independent entrepenuers. I have seen an older woman’s kimono with a dragon on it and the sellers suspected she was either a president of a company or a crime boss wife!! (Dragon’s are usually a motif for men.)

For more information about geisha here is a link to the wikipedia article.

(I know the formatting is sort of screwed up on this but the internet is being finicky again.)
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Primula Baggins
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Post by Primula Baggins »

This is so fascinating, Wilma! All I can say is thank you!

That last kimono is extraordinarily beautiful, as is the wearer. Her grace really shows it off. :love:
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
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Hachimitsu
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Edo Dancer


Initially, men were the first geisha as MC's and comedians. Women became dancers and singers and started calling themselves geisha after the initial male geisha. Since the female geisha became very popular quickly, and were competing for clients with oiran (courtesan). To protect the business of the oiran, the government put in strict, non-flashy dress codes for these first geisha. A black collar was the style during the Edo period and the next model, whose outfit of from the Edo period also has a black collar.

(Another interesting point is that some oiran hired geisha to help with entertaining their clients. I guess if they couldn't beat them, so they joined them.)

Yes, it’s me dressed as a dancer from the Edo period (I know nothing about dancing and I couldn’t get the dancer poses right). The makeup sort of faded a bit over time. I have done some asking around, and found some long lasting stuff for next year.
Last edited by Hachimitsu on Sun Aug 14, 2011 8:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Kamura girl

A kamura girl is one of the attendants of an oiran/tayuu (courtesan). The oiran usually had several servants who were children sold into the red light district, or sold to her directly, in hopes of becoming oiran. She would usually choose a favourite to become her protégé. The Kamura girl would be dressed inred and walkahead of the oiran in the oiran parade as her protégé. It’s sort of a debut as a new oiran. The oiran would mentor her through the ranks of oiran. Notice the kamura girl also has a black collar as that was the trendy collar colour of the Edo period.

Basically the child servants of an oiran had 2 options, possibly become an oiran or become a cleaner. (The cleaner didn’t have flashy clothes but had more respect.) The oiran was fully responsible for the care of her servants so they would be at least decently dressed and cared for. Oiran were known for having close sister-like relationships with their favourite servants.

The model was really great since she kept with the traditional poses. Keeping her sleeves close together and then showing one sleeve off. Obi knot is called Tateya musubi.
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Oiran
Another person of the Edo period

The oiran, were high class prostitutes of the pleasure quarters (red light district). In Kyoto they were called Tayuu and had some differences in dress. Most notably they tied their obi in a sort of heart shape, while oiran had thick pillow like obi that draped down.

The clients of oiran were the very wealthy and daimyo.
It’s best to think of oiran as courtesans since they had many talents. Many were artists, practiced ikebana, practiced tea ceremony, dancing and singing and many were intellectuals. Oiran were also involved in acting and were involved in the begining of Kabuki . (Women were banned from Kabuki since some of the first actors in Kabuki were prostitutes). Oiran also spoke as one would speak at court, and exhibited high class manners. (I am just tired typing all that.)

Very successful oiran were known as castle topplers since they would get their clients to spend far too much money. Oiran also employed geisha as entertainers and musicians for their clients.

Since oiran were not allowed to leave the pleasure quarters, they developed a very separate culture from the outside world. (They were only allowed to leave during Hanami (flower viewing) and if a relative was ill or had died.)

A client would wait for an oiran at some set of quarters within the pleasure district and send a notice to the oiran. The oiran would then do a public procession to where the client was with all her servants, called the oiran dochu (oiran parade). The Oiran would lead a parade and her servants would follow behind her. While performing the oiran parade, the oiran would do a sweeping figure 8 step in 15cm platform shoes without looking down!! This step is called Hachi moji. Our oiran has scars on her feet from walking in those shoes. Why are the Japanese into tripping hazards and foot torture? :shock: The oiran also would have a male assistant(sometimes a bodyguard) to hold on to for balance.

Video of an oiran parade


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Note the hairstyle of the Oiran. Oiran, Geisha, kamura and maiko had specific hair styles. Also the arrangement and amount of the stick kanzashi of the oiran could be quite specific depening on the rank of the oiran. Those hair sticks have to be straight . (Our oiran had faux tortoise shell hair sticks.)

The kimono would be short and have 3 padded hems. (In the past there were more trailing kimono that had padded hems. ) The kimono would be short to show the hem of the underkimono (and probably not get caught in those shoes). The uchikake is an elaborate sort of an over coat like cape worn over the whole ensemble. In the past the very wealthy and high class would wear overcoats like this, but now people only wear uchikake as part of a bridal ensemble. Also note how much of the nape of the neck is shown.

A note on the obi. All women involved in prostitution wore their obi tied in the front. Initially when what we know as obi developed during the Edo period, people wore their obi tie front or back. Then it got standardized, married women would wear their obi tie in the front. Married women then moved the knot to the back because it got in the way of housework. Prostitutes are basically wives rented for an evening, and that is why they wear their obi in the front.

There is a manga series and live action movie called Sakuran, about an oiran.


Because the oiran, could not leave the pleasure quarters, the world of oiran became much more removed for the outside world. Geisha eventually surpassed them in popularity due to geisha being current with the outside world. Oiran died out some time around the 1700's. Now, oiran dochu are performed as a means of cultural preservation.

An example of this obi in the front is in anime is House of 5 leaves where one of the characters lives in a brothel and all the ladies have theirobis tied in the front. This another hint that geisha are not prostitutes since they don’t wear their obi tie in the front.


(There is a story that the obi in the front because it’s easier to tie, but that is a myth. All people getting dressed solo usually tie their obi in the front anyway and then twist it around to the back.)

This again was a sort of a discussion point in the series xxxholic as a character missed a particular character and would wear her clothes and for one outfit he tied the obi the same way she wore hers when she wore the outfit. For this particular character wearing her obi in the front I don’t think really symbolized anything, she just felt like it. After all it's by Clamp and they just like the pretty. (I just realized the way she wears it, it would not look good, if she tied her obi in the back. Just like I thought, for the pretty.)
Last edited by Hachimitsu on Thu Nov 03, 2011 4:28 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Primula Baggins
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Post by Primula Baggins »

Continuing to enjoy this, though I have to go out on the deck to get the bandwidth to see the kimono!

Many splendid photos, but I think the Edo dancer will endure as my favorite. :D
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
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Post by Hachimitsu »

Sorry for the pics. I don't have the time to re-edit the pictures. There are only 2 more outfits to go. :oops:
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Post by Primula Baggins »

Wilma, I'm sorry! That wasn't a complaint! The pictures are fine for the board. I wouldn't want them smaller, anyway—you couldn't see the details.

I just have a lousy WiFi connection at the vacation condo we're staying at. My point was that it's worth it to wait for the pictures to load!
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
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Post by Hachimitsu »

Oh thanks :D
Sorry, for some reason google chrome has problems loading the page, so as soon as post looks decent I post it, and edit it later. Google chrome has not been kind to me with preview.
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Post by Hachimitsu »

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Juni Hitoe
(Joo- knee Hee-toe-eh)

The Juni Hitoe is court wear for women of the Heian period. Ju-ni means 12 and hitoe means thickness.

The layers of a juni hitoe varied from 5 to 15 depending on the occasion and the season. The layers were made of thin silk called habutae. It was inspired by Chinese dress from the Song and Tang dynasties. Women would actually sleep in the innermost layers of the Juni hitoe. The layering created a barcode effect around the collar and the barcode denoted your rank, had to be season appropriate and had to show creativity of the wearer and dresser. Historical records have shown that people who could not dress in their juni hitoe correctly were sent home from court (so the ladies better have gotten that barcode right!) This site gives some barcode examples.

The juni hitoe was a reflection of the woman and her staff, as the several of the various layers are the same size. It would be up to the skillof the dresser to make sure they were layered properly. (For the second vid just skip ahead a little bit.)

The hair was styled long, with very few hair ornaments if any. The long hair was the only other factor about a woman’s appearance that was valued for attractiveness outside juni hitoe. The face was painted white with high eyebrows painted on to show high status. Also sometimes a womans teeth would be blackened.

Juni hitoe is an example of a type of dress to demonstrate wealth. It is a very impractical outfit as a person had to walk on their pants and it could weigh quite a bit. This outfit also required staff to get dressed. A woman wearing this had to be from a very high ranked family. A man who could afford to have his female his family members like this, were basically demonstrating, that his family did not need to work and just sit around in layers of fancy silk (can’t be too active juni hitoe). Who would devise pants a person had to walk on?

A woman of the court in the Heian period would always carry a large fan and a notebook. It was impolite for a woman to show her face in public so she would have the fan ready to cover her face. A man would judge a woman worthy of marriage interest based on how well she was dressed in her juni hitoe, and her long black hair. Her skill in choosing colours would be an indication of her character. A potential suitor would then write note of poetry to her, if her junihitoe was impressive. The woman would receive the note and write a note of poetry back (she had a notebook). Physical beauty of a woman was not the most important thing when judging a woman’s character to be suitable as a mate.

Wearing a juni hitoe in the winter makes sense due to lack of central heating. In the summer though it was down to just 5 layers, which is still quite a bit of fabric.:shock: There is even a story of a woman trying to save a little prince from drowning, but they end up drowning together since she was in a juni hitoe. :doh:

The juni hitoe is worn today for royal weddings, and coronation ceremonies.

In the animeShounen Omniyouji and Katangatari , a person can see the influence of the Chinese on Japanese clothing

A notable person who dressed in Juni Hitoe was the author of The Tale of Genji, Murasaki Shikibu.

The aesthetic of many layers in kimono comes from this. Nowadays though the layers can be faked by just adding more collars or by adding an extra layer called adounukiin the winter. A dounuki was a kimono layer where just the edges were nice looking, since the point of it was just to be an extra layer and add warmth in the winter.
The appearance of more layers on a kimono can really dress it up and look more formal.

Our model is wearing a juni hitoe with faked layers since heat stroke is not funny. This girl was a really trooper since she had to stay indoors the whole time she wore this, and she had to walk on pants. Who builds a tripping hazard into an outfit?

Doing research I found a cool costume studio that will dress a person in juni Hitoe. :cheers:
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Post by Hachimitsu »

Now finally some clothing stuff for the guys. Unfortunately, the show was mostly female collectors and models and our other male model was not able to make it. So the armour was the only men's fashion ensemble in the fashion show. I have seen though that men's kimono fashion has changed historically. Especially seeing men's court wear during the Heian period, is quite different from what men wear now. Also I did some interesting male kimono accessories while doing my research.
Generally men's kimono have more subdued colours, and many of the motifs have animals. Also the sleeve panels are more square and not curved like women's sleeve panels.

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Samurai Armour (Ō-yoroi)

Since I am mentioning some names of different classes of Japanese I thought I would include this graphic of the Japanese class system based on Confucianism.

Image Credit to castesytem.tk
Farmers and fishermen were considered productive members of society and were higher class then merchants. Merchants were at the bottom of the class system since merchants profited from the labour of more productive members of society.
Due to this class system one can see how sumptuary laws would be necessary, to maintain these class distinctions.
For a more detailed description of these classes you can check out this link here

Samurai were the warrior class in Japan with a deep sense of honour with scholarly ideals and, followed the code of bushido. From what I understand in peacetime were law enforcement and bureaucrats.
This samurai armour (Ō-yoroi) is replica armour made during the Showa period and is called modern samurai armour. It is similar to the type of armour worn by the Takeda Clan which had the largest cavalry during the Sengoku period (warring states period).This armour would be suitable for a high ranked officer or a Daimyo(lord or general)

The colour and pattern of lacing of the armor was used for identification and rank. Over time loose lacing of the armour became the norm as it made the armour easier to clean and dry out. The armour was light and some could even be swam in. :shock:

For an extremely detailed description of armour, Tosh pointed me to this site here. It is excellent. They even write details on the armour scales and lacing types!!

This blog has an example of kamishimo which is samurai formal court wear , when the samurai was at the daimyo's castle ( a 3 piece outfit of formal kimono, hakama, and a jacket of exaggerated shoulders called kataginu . Notice the crests on the outfit, which showed which family you served. [Ogilliation]I don't know if any Star Trek fans would notice but many aspects of Klingon costuming is based on Japanese warrior dress. The kataginu was totally copied by the costume designer for Klingons. Also after re-listening to the podcast, I think they copied some of the speechifying that is a part of samurai fighting and did something similar to the code of bushido! [/osgilliation]

A part of the samurai’s daily wear were was a pair of swords, one long (katana) and one short( wakizashi). The pair was called a daisho and considered a symbol of the samurai since they were the only class that could carry a daisho. When going into a building a Samurai had to leave the Katana at the door and could still carry the wakizashi. From what I have read wakizashi was suited for indoor fighting. (Sword experts if I screwed this up please correct me.)
(I refer to sword carrying in my introductory post to the fashion show. Due to the wealth of the merchant class, and their ire at Samurai being allowed to carry daisho, sumptuary laws were eventually relaxed to allow a merchant to carry a wakizashi.)

The focus of samurai training were sword techniques, spear techniques, horsemanship, archery, archery on horseback and the goal was to master all 5 (but most couldn’t.)

The Code of bushido was a code of conduct for a Samurai. Four major principles of bushido are death, combat , familial duties and courtesy and respect. If a samurai had dishonoured themselves , the method to regain honour was to commit ritual suicide.( seppuku, which involved self disembowelment and beheading. )

If a Samurai lost it’s master, they would be called a ronin, there are many famous stories of ronin. Heck there was even a hollywood movie called Ronin so the term I think is pretty well known. (There are modern uses for the term ronin in modern Japan for people in between jobs and students trying to get into university.)

For a detailed description for samurai lifestyle, this is a recording of a one hour samurai panel at Anime Boston. Presentation by Jennifer Yoo. (I did not know the samurai wives would have to clean up the heads their men brought back. :shock:)

In the first page of this album there are pictures of our samurai model getting dressed.

I am sure there are plenty of anime and manga that has samurai in them but I only know of two. Samurai Deeper Kyo and of course Rurouni Kenshin.

If anyone knows more about samurai armour and weaponry, feel to add stuff. My knowledge on this aspect of military dress altogether is extremely limited.


Finally done!!!

ETA, I just realized that by our models age, he would have probably seen several battles, since during wartime samurai started serving in their early teens. :shock:
Last edited by Hachimitsu on Mon Oct 31, 2011 11:32 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Post by Hachimitsu »

OK I have finally am getting settled after having an extremely busy month with moving, and a ton of other stuff. I have reserved a spot for the last item in the fashion show, since I am almost done working on it.

Anyway about some anime I have recently seen, has anyone seen Puella Magi Modoka Magica? I think it was the best series of the spring season. I think it would be a good anime even for people with a mild familiarity with anime. I think it's a brilliant deconstruction of the magical girl genre in anime.

Another series I have been watching is Mawaru Penguindrum which is the newest series by Kunihiko Ikuhara (the person who did Revolutionary Girl Utena). So far it's pretty awesome, and if keeps up the quality it could be the best series of the summer season.

The fall season, don't have much to say since much of it was dissapointing so far.


On Saturday I went with some friends and saw a screening of the movie Redline at the After Dark film festival in Toronto. Anyone who is even mildly a fan of anime must see this movie. Even if the story does not appeal to you, it's all hand drawn with no CG. It's absolutely amazing!!!! The release of the film is quite choppy so chances to see the movie maybe few and far between so if you get a chance take it. I am definitely buying the Blu-ray.
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Post by Hachimitsu »

The manga Sakuran will be coming out possibly in the summer by Vertical I think I am going to buy it.

I recently received my copy of Bride's story volume 2. It's so pretty!!

Still loving Mawaru penguindrum. I think the thing I like best about the show is that when each episode ends, you are the edge of your seat to find out what happens next since the show always has intriguing surprises.

ETA:
Has anyone been reading any of the New Clamp series? I tried Gate 7 and I am unsure about it. Sometimes it feels like it's pandering.

It is nice to know that Legal Drug is back (now called Drug and Drop) the first new chapter has just come out in Asia!! I hope it's received well.
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Post by MithLuin »

I am sure there are plenty of anime and manga that have samurai in them but I only know of two. Samurai Deeper Kyo and of course Rurouni Kenshin.

If anyone knows more about samurai armour and weaponry, feel to add stuff. My knowledge on this aspect of military dress altogether is extremely limited.
Well, there is Samurai 7, which is of course based on Kurusawa's 'Seven Samurai'. It - like most anime - has a strong fantasy element to it, so they were going for the 'spirit' of samurai more than actual accurate fighting techniques or anything. For instance...a katana might as well be a lightsaber, as they have them cut through *everything* and deflect bullets and such. There are strong overtones of class warfare between the samurai (now all ronin) and the rising merchant class, though, and discussions of bushido. They use the honorific -dono when referring to the samurai.

I know less about samurai than you do, so I have little to add. I have been practicing kendo for the past year, though, so I'm learning a little bit about one aspect of what it meant to be a samurai, I guess! Unfortunately I have to give that up temporarily. Bamboo Blade is an anime/manga about a high school kendo club, so they'd have the more modern stuff in that.

There's other animes with samurai in the name - Samurai Champloo, Afro Samurai, etc - but I haven't seen them so I have no clue about them.



I really enjoyed all your fashion show pictures! Certainly makes it clear what versatility can go into the same basic kimono fashion.



Hehe, and I appreciated your comment about even the *writers* being confused by the endings of Tsubasa/XXXholic. ;) That's soooo true! I've only read the first volume of XXXholic, so I can't say I'm in any way familiar with that storyline, but Tsubasa was crazy! The first half of it was fairly...normal...run of the mill quest journeying. Maybe even a little cutesy about the whole thing. Then, they jump time instead of worlds by accident, and the universe takes off the kid gloves and tears them apart. Or...the author with the darker personality took over. Or something! The Acid Tokyo arc just completely changed the entire dynamics and mood of the story. Which (I'll admit) I liked :D. [And it's not like Tokyo Babylon was ever going to be *happy*!] Stories are more fun when people start losing eyes and having real conflicts. But it does give you whiplash! And then the ending...is soooooo...soooo...messed up convoluted and confusing. Multiple clones and time travel events and people being their own parents (or rather, swapping out who their parents are???) It really is difficult to figure out! I'm not entirely convinced it all makes any sense at all, but I guess I can follow what they are going for (like I said...I haven't read XXXholic yet). The anime for Tsubasa is...meh. They obviously didn't know where the story was going, so tried to keep it all fluffy, and accidentally violated the cardinal rule of never bringing anyone back to life. But more significantly, in 2 seasons they never got around to establishing *any* motive or action from their villain. The OVA Tokyo Revelations is worth watching, though, since it is the Acid Tokyo chapters :) 'Spring Thunder' continues the story but tries to move too quickly, so is a bit disappointing. Both follow the manga, though.


Part of me would love to write a crossover where the group from Tsubasa lands in the world of Code Geass so that Syaoran could meet up with Suzaku. It wouldn't even be a little bit AU for Tsubasa! ;) But....that project isn't even on the back burner, and is currently below 'Translate Goodnight Moon into Quenya' on the priority list. Hehe.


Thank you so much for sharing your write-up of Anime North!
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Post by Hachimitsu »

I obviously need to see Samurai 7. I especially would like to know more about the merchants vs. samurai.

About Tsubasa/xxxholic, it helps a little bit more if you read xxxholic. I will say that CLAMP started out as a doujin circle, so I always thought of Tsubasa/xxxholic as a fanfic version of their own works. Then I do not over think things. Also they kept xxxholic running longer then initially intended, so the ending was not as expected, but I personally think it fits.
I am partway through Samurai Champloo, and one character is a ronin.

About the fashion stuff, it's barely the tip of the iceberg, I forgot some names of stuff, and there is just so much more history wise. I hope I could give a slight hint of changes in kimono through the ages. (Some of the obi-knots were not even invented at certain points in history.) Also I found a cool picture of a gown, made out of fabric from a furisode, Ah wells. I don't think I will do such a detailed report again though. We are already planning stuff for AN 2012. (It now has an attendance cap of 20 000 :shock: )

For some random strangeness, here is a link to a Japanese ad, that has a geisha and a yujo, I wonder if people can tell the difference. (Hint: the ladies act differently.)

Random hip hop rap during the Edo period

I did say it was strange.
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Post by MithLuin »

Yes, watch Samurai 7! It is worth it :). It's also on Netflix (well, the dubbed version, anyway). The history is such that a warring era ended not that long in the past, and the emperor came out on top with his nobuseri (giant robots or 'machine samurai') and the merchants have all the power in peace time. The 'leftover' samurai wander around without work or take jobs as bodyguards or something. So...they've fallen from their place and are no longer people of power, though they are still respected for their skills (particularly by the poor farmers). I'm probably not explaining it well, but the politics is definitely such that the samurai were the ultimate losers in the war. (And, well, the consistently-oppressed farmers). But there are a few shakeups that occur in the 26 episode series, so it's still a time of transition.

Oh, it's got one of those walled-off, moat-enclosed pleasure districts that you mentioned in your history, too. Not central to the plot, but it shows up a couple of times.

The animation is beautiful for the first 6 episodes, I think, and then takes a strange severely downhill turn in episode 7. It recovers after that, at least!



There's even a stage version! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wf3RfOQ ... re=related
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Post by Hachimitsu »

So is Samurai 7 and alt history or fantasy?

Woohoo, my fashion history report actually helped in an anime!! Woot!

I guess the random Edo hip hop was just too much eh?
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