#kadomatsu

If I get to wear kimono more in the next few years, I'd like to wear this one again. It's been harder to have the compression on the abdomen required for proper kimono wearing. The Showa-era komon is in such excellent condition. The sleeves are shorter than I'm used to, but I prefer pre-war kimono. The sleeves are getting too long for my age, maybe, but these still feel so short. Very typical for Showa and later, though.

The fabric is shiny but not quite satin-texture. It can't tell if it's silk or a very good synthetic. The lining is fully synthetic. The woven pattern is Bishamon-kikkou, Bishamon tortoiseshell, which is almost invisible under the dyed pattern (I'm not sure what flowers these are.) Basically you can only see it up-close, with the fabric in hand. The difference in textures is barely there.

Wrist to wrist: 49.75in / 126.5cm Sleeve length: 18.5in / 47cm Neck to hem: 61.5in / 156cm Body width: 24in / 60.5

Hiro-eri, one snap. As usual, divided on having a metal snap when metal degrades or pulls at the fabric in such a way that can ruin it.

The obi is very short. I couldn't wear this when I was 6 sizes smaller, several inches in the waist and hips. I never had the heart to cut it. I'd probably have to extend it by at least 3 feet. I fell in love with the pattern a long time ago, well over a decade ago, and I still love it.

It reminds me of Medieval and Renaissance tapestries. Not much before that, the early 2000s, kimono advertisements were for a line of Disney furisode. Of course, the Sleeping Beauty one was absolutely gorgeous. I've never even been a fan of Disney much, just that particular art style and that particular movie. Now that I'm older I feel like the original pioneer of this "whimsical medieval dark academia-core" style.

The obi looks like it's several shades of gold, purple, orange, etc. but actually it's shades of tan, paprika red (like the flowers in the komon), and black. The reverse side is paprika-dominant.

Because it's SO short, I had to "cheat" a lot. Strong binder clips, very short tare, tying the otaiko section is 'thin.' But I think it still came out very well.

The musubi resembles Eris a bit, with her lil pointy ears close together on her fuzzy head. Much of Japanese seasonal symbolism and weaving techniques originated in China. There's a cute New Year's greeting, 年年有馀 (Nián nián yǒu yú) which sounds like "nyan-nyan." A super-short tare and a cat musubi made perfect sense.

The bamboo leaf obiage has tiny plum blossoms on it. The white outlines of the pattern also mimics the white outlines of the komon pattern. It looks perfect with this outfit. the pale/dark purple obijime work together to pull colours from that kadomatsu photo from hyossie on flickr.