🎬 Best in Show (2000)

Image courtesy of Indigo Canada. Kimonos by Rinko Kimino (ISBN 9781838865795) Date of Publication: 2025 Language: English Format: Hardcover Availability: Can Be Purchased New Price: $40 USD Errors: 20 I received this book as a gift, and with all well meaning gifts, I wanted to love this book and support other kimono authors, but this was not the easiest task. Don't get me wrong, there was some of it that was interesting, such as going into detail about different decorating and dyeing techniques and various historic periods, but what confused me the most were the pictures. As an example, many of the things that were being talked about on one page wouldn't be shown on that page or even the next page, but the page after that! It felt like a scavenger hunt to track down the visual examples, and with a bunch having errors on them, it felt like a big let down. I don't think that some of these errors were Rinko-san's, but rather whoever was editing this text and clearly had no concept or knowledge about kimono. For example, asanoha/hemp leaf patterns are called "starfish" on one image caption (I wish I was joking). I don't know if they just didn't understand the direct translation or if there wasn't one available and someone took a guess based on the image, but that should have been double checked by someone with knowledge of the subject before being sent to print. Other errors include: Page 28: Says that only maiko wear maru obi today (most maiko obi are the fukuro kind) Page 38: Describes an image as showing pheasants and autumn flowers; there are no pheasants present. Page 49: Shows an image of an Edo Period kimono with cormorants stating that it's a fine example of kanako shibori. There is no shibori on this piece, Page 69: The starfish debacle. Page 72: Shows an image of a red uchikake with flowers and calls them cherry blossoms; they're plum blossoms. Page 77: Someone translated "clematis" literally and put it in as "iron wire". Page 81: Shows a plum blossom and calls it a camellia. Page 87: Left out an item from the caption. The missing blank should read "seigaiha." Page 92: Calls Shōchikubai "Matsu-Take-Ume" (I suppose if you didn't know Japanese then you wouldn't know that it had a proper name, but again, this should have been checked by an editor). Page 103: Translates "snowflake" literally again and puts it in as "snow wheel." Page 108: Shows a woodblock print of a woman in a beautiful uchikake with flowers. It calls the flowers plum blossoms; they are clearly cherry blossoms. Page 110: States that modern kimono are worn the opposite of people in the Yamato Period, who wore it left over right (left over right is the correct way to wear a kimono now). Page 116: Says that junihitoe doesn't mean "twelve layers," says it does everywhere else in the book. Page 141: Calls an uchikake brown. It's purple. Page 144: Shows a kurotomesode and says it's from the Edo Period. It's Meiji/Taisho. Page 150: Shows a Meiji "haori"; it's a stage piece. Page 157: Says an uchikake has a kakuremino (ninja invisibility cloak) motif. It's a hagoromo. Page 162: Says an obi contains fish and marine objects. A bird, butterfly and plants are clearly visible with no fish. Page 163: Calls an image of a Taisho Era woman a geisha in "traditional attire." Just, no. Page 179: Shows an image of a woman getting dressed. Says it's from the 1940s but her hair and classic Taisho Period kimono is from the 1920s. With all of that out of the way, there were parts that I did enjoy. The explanations of how kimono changed with the various historical periods, the meanings behind various motifs, and the variety of images were all great and should not be discontinued. All in all, it's an interesting book, but the high price tag is a bit daunting for what you get. If you can get it for a discount (Indigo Canada has it for $15 CND at time of writing) then it may be worth it for a nice coffee table book ^^ Rating: ✪✪✪ (out of 5)

Fabulous fabric details in the woodcuts of Utagawa Kunisada, edo period, 1800s

A silk kimono finely embroidered with wisteria, Japanese for the European market, 1910-20 the flower-heads in ombré shades of purple to white, pale pink blossom amongst the trailing vines, with original matching, fringed sash

02-01-26 | misterlemonzlime.tumblr.com/archive

Inspired by the recent group magazine cover

Daarin in kimonos because I felt like it