自分の着付け:春祭り

４月はフォートワース日本庭園で春祭りへ行った。テキサスの春は夏の天候のように、全部単衣や夏のものを着た。麻の足袋さえ！パッドと帯板を使わなかったけど、帯板は使わなければならない！それでいて、午後まで暑すぎたとか、痛いがあったとか、帰ろうにした。（笑）これから、へちまのパッドと帯板を買った。絽のシャーリングの伊達締め（クリップ付けとクリップない）も買った。とまれ、この大正の絹の小紋と長襦袢はハワイの店で買った。この長襦袢は赤とトルコ石色の竹とクリーム色の梅柄があって、広衿もある。かといって、小紋はバチ衿だ！バチ衿より広衿はちょっといようだと思う。長襦袢の衿は太いだから、半衿も使わなかった。賑やかなきものと、この心静かな紺色の紗の名古屋帯と好き。紅とクリーム色の帯締めと桃色の綸子帯揚げを選んだ。襦袢の衿と帯締めは同じ紅色だから。桃色は帯型にもみじんある。今でもコーディネートが好き。

祭りで、有名人らしかった。私の写真が取りたかった人は多い。箏の先生とまゆこさんのパフォーマンスを見るときに、男の人は自分の写真が取って気がついた。いやだと思うよ！許可を求める方がいいと思う。とどのつまり、祭りがすごい楽しかった。

In April I went to the Spring festival at the Fort Worth Japanese Gardens. Because spring in Texas is very often like summer elsewhere, I chose all hitoe (unlined) and summer items to wear--I even wore hemp tabi! I also made the choice to skip padding and the obi-ita because I thought they'd add more heat. This may be true but the obi-ita is really non-negotiable, I felt self conscious about the look of my obi all day. After that I ordered hechima (loofah) padding and obi-ita, as well as two synthetic, ro, shirring stye datejime (one with clips and one without). Both the kimono and the nagajuban are silk, Taisho pieces I found at a shop in Hawaii. The juban has red and turquoise bamboo with cream colored ume flowers on it and a wide collar (which is quite strange for a juban). The kimono, on the other hand, has a half width collar which gave the collar area an unusual look because the juban collar was so much thicker than the kimono collar on top. Because the juban collar was already so thick, I decided to forgo the haneri. I like the combination of this very lively kimono with a more sedate navy blue, sha, Nagoya obi. I paired these with a red and cream obijime and a peach colored, rinzu obiage. The red echoes a similar red on the juban collar and there is a very tiny amount of peach on the design on the obi. Overall, I'm still quite pleased with this outfit.

At the Festival I was a bit like a celebrity! There were so many people who all wanted to take my picture. I even noticed a guy sneaking a picture of me while I was watching my koto teacher and Mayuko-san perform! I think that was really rude, he should have asked. This made me so uncomfortable. Overall though, I had a great time at the festival.

箏の事:三番 飛躍

昨日は最初の近代の曲を始めた！久本玄智の飛躍という曲だ。とても楽しい！先生が少し難しすぎるかなと思った。でも、全然難しすぎなかった。１拍３連さえ弾いて何とかなった。手で音を止めスタッカートもあった。変な音があるから、スタッカートは楽しかった。曲の変わった五線譜は他の曲のような五線譜を気付いた。ハワイで最初のパウハナのパフォーマンスの曲はさくらのバリエーションを弾いた。あの時に、絶対難しすぎた。また戻れやりたい。今弾けるかな?

So, yesterday I started my first contemporary koto piece, "Leaping" by Hisamoto Genchi. This is a really fun piece! My teacher was a little nervous at first that it might be too difficult for me but that turned out not to be the case at all. She was going to change the eighth note triplets to something easier but I managed to play them (albeit a little slowly). It also has staccato in it! Koto staccato is so cool, you use your left hand to immediately stop the sound from a string you just plucked. The sound this makes is so strange, I love it! The score is done in a very strange style but I recognized it from another piece I had done. For my first Pau Hana performance in Hawaii, we learned a Sakura variation in this style and it was definitely too hard for me. I'm curious if I could play it now though (I really want to try it now!).

箏のこと:二番 自分の着付け

去年、秋祭りで箏の先生と会って良かった！その時から、ふみこ先生とプライベートレッソンが取っている。写真には、自分の最初のパフォーマンスだった。実は、パフォーマンスの写真じゃなくても、パフォーマンスの先にリハーセルだ。さくらさくらと五木の子守唄とひなまつりという簡単な歌を弾いた。どきどきしたけど、大丈夫だった。

今は黒髪という古典を習っている。弾きごとはとても楽しくて、歌い事はちょっと難しすぎる。一緒にバラバラにしてる。もっと頑張るよ!

着付けとは、絞りの付け下げとウクライナ人の手縫った昼夜帯びを着た。小物は大胆なブルーとグリーン蝶々の半衿と水色の絞り帯揚げと金色の伊達衿と帯締め。今見ると感じが慌しいと思う。でも、おばあさんが人形みたいといった！

So, last year I met a woman who teaches koto at the Fall Festival named Fumiko. I've been taking private lessons from her ever since. This picture is from my first performance. It's actually the rehearsal beforehand. We played three simple songs: Sakura Sakura, Itsuki no Komoriuta and Hina Matsuri. I was definitely nervous but everything went great.

I'm currently working on a classical piece called Kurokami. I really enjoy playing it but the singing is very difficult! Whenever I try to play and sing at the same time it all falls apart. I'll keep working though.

The kimono I wore is a shibori tsukesage with a chuuya obi handmade by a girl from the Ukraine. I paired it with a rather bold green and blue butterfly han eri, a pale blue shibori obiage and a gold date-eri and obijime. Looking at it now I feel like the whole outfit is a bit busy but the little old ladies said I looked like a doll!

自分の着付け: お正月のランチョン

すみません!ブログは全然忘れちゃった！　orz

先のポストからきものを着た、箏もニューズがある。今度はフォートワース日本人会のお正月のランチョンの着付けと話したい。冬らしく訪問着を着た。お正月から、少しドレスアップして決めた。それから、フォーマルの袋帯と花型絞り帯揚げとコーディネートした。あまり伝統的じゃないね。

Sorry for the long break. I kinda forgot about this blog but I have worn kimono a few times and I have koto news! 

This is the outfit I wore to the Fort Worth Japanese Society New Years Luncheon this year. I chose this houmongi because the soft blue and gentle white pattern reminds me of winter. I thought that I should try to dress it up because it was New Years, so I chose this formal fukuro obi and a partial shibori obiage with a flower pattern. It's not very traditional but I hope it works.

自分の着付け:春

5月に最初のフォートワース日本人会のランチョンへ行った。この小紋は黒白のバックグラウンドと色々な花がある。この名古屋帯は紗の濃紺と鳥と露芝の縫い取りだ。お太鼓はちゃんと結ばなかった。でも、二回だけで、大丈夫と思う！グレー綸子帯揚げを着たけど、次回桃色の帯揚げを着る。私の二部式襦袢の襟がやわらか過ぎるので、襟芯を買って考えている。

In May I went to my very first Fort Worth Japanese Society luncheon. I chose this komon as it looks very 'spring' with a speckled black and white background and multicolored pastel flowers. My nagoya obi is a very dark navy blue sha with embroidered birds and dew on grass motif. My otaiko came out less than perfect but since this was only my second time tying one, I think it came out pretty good! I had worn a grey rinzu obiage, but I think next time I'd wear a peach colored one instead, as I think the grey kinda washed out the colorful flowers. I'm also considering buying an erishin since the nibushiki nagajuban seems to have a very weak collar.

ただかわいいな写真だと思う！

I think this picture ended up so cute! That's my friend Naomi's arm and I was adjusting...something...possibly my ohashori.

箏のこと:一番

ハワイ大学で箏を弾いて習って始まった。今すぐ先生がいなくてもう初級だけど、頑張る。押しがいたくやめても、カルスはまだ小さい。荒城の月と桜バリエーションを練習している。新しい楽譜を買って待ち兼ねる！将来の箏の夢は「みだれ」と「斜影」を弾ける。

I began learning the Koto at the University of Hawaii. I no longer have a teacher since I moved back to the mainland and I'm still a beginner, but I do my best. My presses, at the time of writing, had just begun to stop hurting and I was getting my little calluses. Mostly I practiced kojo no tsuki and a sakura variation. I was impatiently waiting for my new music books to arrive (they sat in customs for several weeks and ultimately arrived unopened (-_-) )! My koto dream for the future is to be able to play Midare and Shaei. Midare is a very famous classical piece and Shaei is an original composition by Sawai Hikaru. 

I'm converting this blog to be Japanese/English bilingual. Hopefully I will find it easier to post more, as writing in English is obviously easier for me, and give fuller detail! I'll try to keep the basic concept the same but I will probably have more details in English as I want the Japanese to be as intelligable as possible (and biting off more than I can chew grammar wise helps no one!). 

自分の着付け

このルークは着物姫のようなゴシックのコーディネートだ。帯締めは自分の作品と帯揚げは、全黒絞り金銀の帯揚げだ。珍しいね！袋帯のは、喪服だからすみません！

This look is meant to be a Gothic Kimono Hime sort of coordination. I made the obijime myself and the obi age is a full-black shibori with dots of gold and silver. It's so rare to see black komono that are not mourning. Speaking of mourning, the fukuro obi is technically for mourning, ordinarily I would not wear it but I was going for a gothic impression so I thought it worked best. 

全夏、このツバメと竹の錦紗な小紋がバレーへ着た。このコーディネートはとても楽しかった！ハンカチが襟に入れたので、襟は少しずつ弛んだ。＾///＾

This is a coordinate I did last summer to go to the ballet. The kimono is a sparrow and bamboo kinsha komon (kinsha is an old variant of chirimen with a lighter texture and komon is a casual kimono with a repeating, all-over pattern). I had a lot of fun with this coordinate! The collar looks a tad loose in this picture because I had tucked a handkerchief inside. ^///^