Es pink, no?

Ahhhh, my kimono.  This past Friday I purchased my 1st kimono.  Not without some major drama surrounding it, because that is the only way I am able to do things it seems.  Regardless, all will be well soon and the kimono will be used for many occasions.  The kimono I am wearing was put on after I told the kimono ladies I was looking for a kimono for a Christmas party. I tried on a cheaper one and the I was happy with my choice until the one lady, while speaking Japanese said, basically, for a party, you want to go big. They then put on me this pink number, a furisode, meant for young, unmarried women. With a beautiful purple obi, which I was unable to purchase. Then, my ears were flooded with, KAWAII, Kawaii, ne? Which is translated to Cute, yes?! Of course, I know what kawaii, ne? means, I am a girl and it is a part of every woman and girl’s vocabulary. So then the lady takes out my camera, we got to get a picture of me in THE DRESS, right? Hook, line, and sucker! It was beautiful and they were telling me, its okay for me to wear a furisode. How could this be, I am almost 30 and MARRIED. Isn’t this a big taboo!? I sometimes am super careful and don’t want to offend the nationals so I didn’t buy the kimono, I walked out without it. I quickly called Mark and went to his work to have a Japanese intervention. I 1st talked to Naomi-San who like me saw a red flag and said no. Don’t buy this one; it is for woman who is NOT married. So, I was right, I wasn’t about to be hustled or lumped in to the “dumb American” group I created myself. So then, after talking to Naomi-San and learning I made the right choice, I then go to see Yoriko-San who told me the complete opposite. Yoriko-San informed me that it is okay. I look young and I don’t have children, this is more than okay. Then she brought over “Mama-San” and Mama-San not only gave me the thumbs up she told the tale of old singers that now love to wear furisode on stage because the others are not dressy enough and everyone wants to pretend they are young. Yoriko-San had to translate for Mama-San. So with my new found confidence and my go ahead by my Japanese friends I bought the kimono of my dreams, IT’S PINKU! It’s a furisode and my furisode can be worn to any dressy occasion such as New Years parties, weddings, nice romantic dinners, but nothing less than that. I couldn’t go out with my friends in this type of kimono. Houmongi are meant for married women to wear and was the type of kimono I was looking for before I bought my pinku kimono. This would be the ones I would wear out and around just at an evening singing karaoke or going to the izakaya, but even the houmongi have different levels of dressiness. I am able to get away with the furisode because I am young women, so I bought it, and it’s absolutely kawaii, ne?! One of the guys working the venue even took a picture of me as well. I felt famous and drifted off to Talya World…When I bought it, an American woman, and a British woman asked me if I was going to hang the kimono and art for my house, I politely told them, PSH, NO, I am wearing this, act like you know I am obsessed with Japan and Korea!

Now, just because I bought this beautiful piece does not mean I know how to get in it or that I now have all that I need to wear it. I still need an obi, obi cords, tabi socks, the kimono shoes (which also have a name but I forgot), the underwear and collar that go underneath, hair accessories, the scarf that I need to tuck inside my obi, and the basic kimono strings meant to ties the kimono together and used to keep it in place. I will then need to find a place, which my Japanese friend Yoriko-San has found a couple, that will dress me for a fee. I still have to find out the cost when you have the kimono, without, 21,000 Yen and up. That’s over $200 to rent a kimono and have them dress you. With some places though, that includes pictures and hair styles, as well as makeup. This is starting to look like my Christmas gift for this year.

I still don’t have a yukata, the summer kimono, but you can get them for good prices around here as well and will get one closer to the summer. Those are easier to wear and I will need to learn to put on my yukata myself. I will find a murasaki one, purple, to wear. These kimono are only for the summer, you cannot wear them any other time, unless you have it on around the house.

So there you have it! I bought my 1st kimono, I am on a kimono high. Anyone who knows me knows, of course, I would have this pink contraption as mine, the kimono hustlers must have smelled it on me. This will not be my last kimono purchase. Good thing Mark understands.



Sayonara from the Scott’s!