Tea

 

Last friday, after a very long time from our first date to do have this evening, my boyfriend and I were invited to participate in a private tea ceremony with a couple we know. It was absolutely wonderful!

At their house, their diningroom flows into a beautiful Japanese tatami room with shoji (paper) panels, closets and room for an ikebana-piece with a scroll (can't remember the specific name for it right now). The shoji panels can be opened to look at their small but very nice Japanese garden, and they can even open the garden doors so that Japanese outside is flowing into Japanese inside. Very beautiful. And our hosts both wore kimono!

Our hostess performed the ceremony and her husband explained what she was doing. I had trouble sitting on my knees and feet for long... Next time I have to bring a little cushion to put under my feet ;-) (we were already had cushions under our knees).

We had lots of fun and talked about a lot and very different topics. It was a very nice and entertaining evening.

I wore my peacock-kimono and obi, and tried a bit of padding on my belly with an obi makura. But if it was successfull??? So if anyone has suggestions for padding, please let me know :-)

Kimono de Jack Leiden

Last saturday Holland had it's first Kimono de Jack, at the Sieboldhuis in Leiden!
You can see photo's and more at the blog of the Kimono Club or on Linda's weblog.

We had lot's of fun and it was so nice to see other kimono fanatics!
Kimono de Jack Holland is here to stay :-)

Oh, almost forgot... When I was deciding what to wear to KdJ, I got to the conclusion that I need more obi and lots more accessoires like obijime and obiage. Luckily for me I'm going to Japanday in Düsseldorf! Any tips for that event (where to buy etc) are most welcome!

Yamato!

 It's been a very, very, very long time since I did some kitsuke, with a big renovation-project, but yesterday I had a good reason for wearing a kimono again. We went to see the taiko-group Yamato.

I can never get enough of hearing and feeling those big taiko drums, and I thought this show was very nice. Especially hearing 2 koto, I've never heard those 'live'.

After the show my bf made a photo (indoors and cellphone, so sorry for the not so good quality!) of me and a member of Yamato, Marika Nito.

It was the first time I wore this pink kimono and black-with-rose obi, but it was a very good match, and a very nice evening!

Happy Holidays!

And be careful in the snow (if you have any)!

Christmas shopping???

Last week I was looking on eBay again since a very long time, and I saw some very beautiful kimono listed... And I couldn't resist to do some bidding :-) Unfortunately some of the kimono I bid on slipped right through my fingers, but I did win 3 pretty kimono and 1 obi.

Hopefully they will arrive soon...

(the pictures link to my flickr-page where you can find more pictures of these kimono and obi)

Long time...

So... it's been a long time since I've worn kimono. And unfortunately it will take another few month before I can find some time to do kitsuke. We're in the middle of some renovating of the house and even if I have spare time, it's nice to do nothing or just relax a bit. But because of the renovating, I'll have more space and better lighting when I'm doing kitsuke!





However, there is a 'huge' project that I am working on every day that has something to do with kimono... I've been busy with a cross-stitch embroidery-piece. It's not a han-eri or any other kitsuke item, it's a bell-pull. It has a Japanese setting and 3 lovely geisha on it, Mount Fuji (?), some lanterns. It's not finished yet, but I'm almost there (more detailed pictures below).

Fantasy

It's been a (very) long time since I made a post on this blog...

Unfortunately there haven't been many kimono or kitsuke days these past few months. Actually, to be exactly, there was only 1 event worth wearing kimono. In march Rota and I, together with our boyfriends, went to the theater to see Osaka Dadadadan Tenko and we had a wonderful time. You can see pics on Rota's blog (those were the only pics taken).

Last weekend (april 24) a colleague and I went to the annual Elf Fantasy Fair. This is one of the best known fairs on elfs and fantasy in Europe, so a lot of non-Dutchies come to see and participate in this. It was fun to see all those costumes! Some were good, some were less, and some were just awesome! There was also a stand with kimono and taiko workshops, but unfortunately I missed those...

I've uploaded a batch of pictures taken on the fair, so you can see for yourself.

In the upcoming months I won't be able to wear kimono :-(
Our roof needs reconstruction, and if I have to choose between these two...

I hope you will have a lot of opportunities to wear kimono, and please post!