Obi Belt for Kimono

Granma gave me an obi which is pretty much a belt for wearing kimono with shrimp design on it, and I'm so in love with it!

It used to be her late older sister's, and this great aunt of mine was what we call in Japan a kidouraku, written as 着(ki=clothing)道楽(douraku=hobby, leisure), people who like to collect different colors and designs of kimonos.

Granma always says that I'm very much like her elder sister, and that she would have loved to have known me more had I been born earlier. I don't know much about her, but seeing all her unique and possibly back then "strange" items, I can imagine what fun person she must have been.

I can wear the kimono itself by myself, but I can't seem to get the obi right. Even when it looks right, after walking around for a couple of hours they start to make me truly appreciate the haori which is an equivalent of a cardigan worn over the kimono, covering the back of the obi.

Speaking of which, I recently learnt that haori, the kimono cardigan which is pretty much a short kimono, used to be allowed only for males because it was part of the army's uniform. It was the geishas who broke the rule, made the kimono cardigan out of all kinds of fancy fabric, and made women all over Japan want one themselves. I like them for that.

I suppose the maikos and geishas were the only working-as-well-as-earning females in Japan, so they had much freedom unlike the rest of the women who were expected to follow the rules and commands of their father and then husband. (Although, strictly speaking, maikos were a property of their "house"s because their "house" bought them all the most luxurious kimonos and obis to prepare them for work each day, but I won't go into the details.). This is not such a bad thing, because just as much as they did not have the freedom to do as they will, if they did something punishable they also did not have to take responsibility themselves. It would dishonor the family's name a lot though.

Of course it's better if the society didn't set rules based on the concept that women are stupid, but then, for whatever the reason if women are as a result protected, it's nice in its own way I think.

The universal movement of women being treated as equal to men is strange to me. Women and men are never the same. We are made to be different, and made to be good and better at what we can do that the other was not designed to do. I think that true equality can not be achieved by leveling numbers.

Anyways R, enough of my sideways rant, I can't wait to see your beautiful pale skin in one of the pink kimonos that doesn't quite look right on my tan :D

H