Kimono-matsuri Part II (We Have Photos!)

So, Nat has told you about most of what happened at the kimono festival. I get to show you the photos!

This first picture is probably the last one that got taken. It's right outside the house of the family who lent Nat her kimono and helped us put them both on. Everyone remarked on how well Nat's purse from Calabash matched her obi (kimono belt). The men's kimono I'm wearing is technically too small for me (in all dimensions), but was considered good enough. If I were wearing one more properly sized, the collar would have closed a little higher up. I should have also worn a different style of undershirt as that really shouldn't be visible. Also, sitting became awkward. Normally, a kimono shouldn't open in the front just because you sit down. Since mine was too small, I usually ended up holding the fish on my lap to keep the folds in place.



Next is our lunch. Technically, this was most of Nat's lunch (3-11) and part of Maryann's lunch (1 and 2), but Nat didn't get her full lunch in the photo, so this will suffice. I outlined the lunch so you can see how many dishes are actually involved.

1. Mochi covered in red bean paste - This is dessert. We ended up having more for tea later.
2. Tempura fried shrimp and vegetables
3. Chilled soba noodles in...a particular broth intended solely for cold noodles.
4. Dipping sauce for the tempura
5. Sashimi (raw fish). There was some sort of fish that Nat had already consumed by the time she took this, squid and a huge prawn with the head and tail still attached, but the middle was bare meat. Everyone took off the head.
6. Pickles (not pickled cucumbers)
7. A spicy octopus and cucumber salad
8. Soy sauce
9. RICE
10. Green tea
11. Clear soup (with a fish sausage ball and kelp)

A lot of people ended up not finishing their meal for one reason or another. Most people were too full.

After lunch, we ran around and won some prizes. As Nat mentioned, I noticed a tour guide slowly walking up to us on our right. I thought she looked like she was trying to offer to show us around. Since we didn't really need showing around (particularly since Ken, Yuko and Taichi were with us), I looked away and noticed a photographer trying to snap a picture of us from the left. I quickly went back to looking candid. After I looked back, both the photographer and the tour guide were scurrying away. I was amused.

Somewhere during the running around for prizes, we met up with the rest of our group and caught a ferry that did a quick trip through the bay and back. Since this festival requires you to be in a kimono to participate, only people wearing a kimono could ride (yes, even the baby). It was really nice. It's probably hard to tell in this picture, but the obi of the woman second from the left (in the gray kimono) has a playing card pattern on it. It was really fun seeing it. Most kimono and obi have more traditional motifs (though a group of ladies won the award for best obi; their obi were tied and pinned to look like various flowers in the back). While we were on the ferry, a group of seagulls started following us. One even landed on one of the masts. A grandmother started rooting around her grandson's bag for a biscuit to offer the seagulls. Meanwhile, a hawk decided that it wanted a seagull lunch, so it started diving through the flock. The seagulls, never deterred from the prospect of a meal for themselves, continued following the ferry in a more elusive pattern. The grandmother finally found a biscuit and held it high above her head for the seagulls (who were too busy evading the hawk to notice). In the end, the hawk never caught a seagull, the seagulls never got any food, the grandmother resigned to feeding the biscuit to her infant grandson and there were a whole bunch of jellyfish floating in the channel. It was all pretty impressive while it lasted.

This is a group picture. It is not even close to including everyone. The mother and father of the house are not in the photo (as well as some random boy I noticed, peripherally, who was watching TV and did not partake in the festival). Also, we had separated from Ken, Yuko, Taichi and Maryann long before this picture was taken. I don't even know everyone's names. The people I do know are Junko-san (far left; a member of our English conversation group and our driver for the day) and Ai-chan (second from the right in bright red). This is also a perfect example to tell you about different types of kimono. At least ones worn during this time of year. You might notice that Ai-chan is the only one wearing a kimono with long, draping sleeves. This type of kimono is only worn by unmarried women (everyone else in the picture is married, in elementary school, male or a dog). They are typically made with brighter colors and bolder patterns, though a delicate color or pattern is not uncommon. The long sleeves are believed to be more suitable for attracting a male suitor. There are traditional poems and plays saying as much. The bright kimono worn by Ai-chan's cousin (second from the left) is a children's kimono. These kimono have the tendency to have more eye-bleedingly bright colors and more outlandish themes (some young boys' kimono have cowboys on chartreuse), though neither are necessary. Men's formal kimono (like the one I'm wearing), tend to have the most sedate patterns and colors tend to be dark or masculine. Khaki, black, navy, gray, brown and olive green are typical colors for men's kimono. Also, I'm the only one wearing the geta (Japanese sandals) that are elevated with a couple thick strips of wood. This isn't really a men/women thing. These were just the ones available I thought would best fit my feet. But it's also a good way to show you some different kinds of geta. The tabi (toe socks) I'm wearing are technically too small for me as well, but they actually got on my foot. The more traditional tabi I was originally offered...I would have had to cut off my toes to fit into.

Junko-san and Nat.

All in all, it was a lovely day. I guess there was rain either last year or the year before (or both). We were home by 5:00, which somewhat surprised me. The family who helped us put on our kimono live right next to the bay where I walk, sometimes. I had even said hello to the mother and the grandmother on one occasion. It was really fun.

This is a picture of our funeral home neighbors after a storm (perhaps the typhoon, but I don't think it was). There was a brilliant rainbow that Nat caught just as she was getting home from work.