#maikp

Refined summer outfit, featuring a very unusual kimono depicting a nôryôyuka* (terrace on river bank) under fluttering yanagi (willow), paired with a lovely kani (crab) patterned obi.

*Nôryôyuka (also called nôryôdoko) are raised platforms built to enjoy a bit a fresh air during summer evenings while dining outside teahouses.

Those platforms are especially associated with Kyoto’s Kamo river, especially the area around Shijo bridge (where stands the hanamachi/Geisha neighboorhood of Pontocho).

This ukiyoe by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi “Cooling of at Shijo” depicts a teahouse waitress on a nôryôyuka:

Nôryô are still opened each summer nowadays (but often owned by expensive establishements ^^;):