Ichiro Wada's Blog

Dear Customers & Friends

Hello from Japan! This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News Letter No.274.

Today I(Yuka) is writing about the day when Ichiro and I attended a tea ceremony three days ago.
Our good friend Carmen san who is now studying sado(the way of tea) at Urasenke school in Kyoto invited us to their annual Christmas ochakai ` tea ceremony` hosted by the students from all over the world studying there.
The ceremony was held at one of the room at Urasenke school. Urasenke is one of the main and influential school.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urasenke

We are Japanese but you have to understand we do not do tea ceremony and most of Japanese are the same, except the people who learn a way of tea, or who
are from good family, and have done traditional culture lessons. It used to be said women had to be able to do ocha(way of tea), ohana(flower arrangement) and osaihou(sewing) to be ready to get married. I remember going to an ochakai with my mother one or two times but I remembered nothing.
Without Carmen san, we probably had no chance to be in Urasenke ochakai, tea ceremony. There are many less formal tea ceremony in many places but at a room in THAT Urasenke school, it has much more meaning. We were so thrilled-we had patchy information but Carmen san actually let us know the procedure
by e-mails gave us organized information:-) (Which is real Japanese? us or Carmen san?)
We were VERY nervous actually (we had practiced the action the day before!)and reviewed the phrase on the way!
It is me going to the tea ceremony(you can see a security man behind)
http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/Ichiroyajapan/Ochakai#5276965876510777698

However, our worries were not necessary. We were welcomed by warm smiles of the students at the entrance and at the waiting room, we could smell the sweet smell. The smell came from Tokonoma, Japanese traditional alcove. It was handmade ginger bread houses made by a student from Finland!
(Can you see Moomin wearing a red cap?)

http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/Ichiroyajapan/Ochakai#5276965736197095842
There were more interesting display such as the intricate cutwork decoration from Poland hanging on the wall, the instruments nicely placed, advent calendar with tobacco tray - they were so charming in the traditional old tatami waiting room and made us smile.
http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/Ichiroyajapan/Ochakai#5276965724571803778
http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/Ichiroyajapan/Ochakai#5276965743672534754
http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/Ichiroyajapan/Ochakai#5276965764794008962
http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/Ichiroyajapan/Ochakai#5276965754500807122

http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/Ichiroyajapan/Ochakai#5276965774275724082

We were told the tea room was ready, and went into the room(saying `dozo osakini` means `after you` each other)until someone finally decided to go first.
There were about 15 guests, and the hosts, the students' hospitality was just so great. We were served their handmade sweets with Christmas design on them-and there were full of joyful atmosphere around by then. Then each of us was served green tea, and had the tea according to the manner(rotate the bowls, saying the phrase, bowing before each actions and so on) but when we noticed the tea bowls were all handmade by the students, the room was filled with
smiles and surprise. In tea ceremony, we are supposed to appreciate tea bowls but it can be a routine, but we really appreciated each teabowl as well as the handmade sweets. The air was so amiable and relaxed, we talked each other and listened to the student who told us about the vase, flowers kakejiku and other tea items with ohhing and ahhing.
http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/Ichiroyajapan/Ochakai#5276965781905696354
http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/Ichiroyajapan/Ochakai#5276965809370406210
We could not take all the photos but this is one of the thing which amazed us- robuchi (frame of hearth) using traditional Japanese design of Genjiko but with lovely Christmas colors!
http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/Ichiroyajapan/Ochakai#5276965819133871826

Among the guests, there was an old man who seemed to be a teacher of Urasenke. He was saying otemae(tea serving manners) was graceful and said `tanoshii!`
it means enjoyable. Everyone was nodding.

For the guests, tea ceremony is only a short time thing but for the hosts, the tea ceremony starts from long ago-making invitation, cleaning all the place,
taking care of tea items, preparing sweets and all the things for the guests. But more than that they were supposed to make their guests comfortable and happy, and they did excellent job presenting things from their own country. With a lot of nice surprise here and there, the tea ceremony went with series of happy moments. At first it was so quiet and there was only the sound of birds chirping but gradually, the sound of laughter and talks of guests were heard. It is easy to say `please enjoy` but I think it is quite difficult actually. With the thoughtful preparation, and their heartful welcome, I think each guest left the tea room with happiness.
We like to show more photos but we forgot to ask the permission so if it becomes all right, we like to put all the photos by slide show in our blog.
*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Recently we became acquainted with Hiro san who is working as a kimono dresser in NY, USA. If you are interested in being dressed in kimono,
she may be able to help you! She dressed some people who atteneded in Emmy award-winning ceremony recently. Here is her message.

I am Hiro, a master instructor of kimono dressing, in Manhattan, New
York City. I want to hand on Japanese beauty to many people all over the
world through kimonos. So, I run a kimono business, including
kimono-wearing class, kimono dressing service, and kimono coordinate
service. In my class, many New Yorkers have enjoyable time wearing
kimono. In addition, I can dress you with your kimonos on site not only
in New York City, but also around USA. As a kimono stylist, I also can
advise you coordinates with kimonos as your situations. If you are
interested my service, please visit my web site at
http://www.kimonohiro.com/index_eng. Please don�ft hesitate to ask me. I
am looking forward to hearing from you.

Hiro

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Today we will list some noboribata, geta, obijime, haori, bolts and hair ornament and woodblock print book in our antique website. We are very happy if you could find your favorite among them!
Ichiro & Yuka Wada
Kimono Flea Market "ICHIROYA"
http://www.ichiroya.com

e-mail: info@ichiroya.com
address: Asia-shoji Bldg.301
1841-1 Nishi 1 chome
Wakamatsu cho
Tondabayashi city
Osaka 584-0025 JAPAN
TEL&FAX ****( international number ) - 81-721-23-5446

Dear Customers & Friends

Hello from Japan! This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News Letter No.273.
Unfortunately economy of whole world seems to become weak. Also our domestic economy is becoming slow, and the prices of our used kimonos seem to become low at the auctions. So we made some old listed items 'Price Down', and moved them to the first part of categories. We will add more in future, so please check them.
At the same time, prices of very rare items are still expensive. Recently we seldom came across such items at auctions - we don't know why, but we imagine people don't want offer them at auctions because the market prices becomes low.
However, I(Ichiro) attended an major auction today, and we got several very rare supreme items! We will list them this week, but we would like to introduce some of them in this letter.

1)Men's Juban with carp and other animals. Carp and animals are dyed very boldly with vivid/precise details! It had to be designed and custom made for a special person originally. It is really an wearable art!

2)Pattern Sample Juban includes war motif pattern. It is a kind of pattern sample juban, but we have never seen such design. It has various patterns in very vivid colors, and one is soldier pattern, and another is helmet(of soldier) pattern. It is strongly reflected by the atmosphere of the war time.

3)Maru obi with 'shishi-mai'. Shishi dance pattern is woven elaborately all over it in the both sides. We have never seen a such exceptional vintage obi.

4)Maru obi with vivid dragon! Its dragon pattern is gorgeous and stunning!

5)Maru obi with 'Seven Wise Men In Bamboo Grove'. Its pattern is woven with elaborate tsume tsuzure technique! Both sides have same bold pattern - it had to be incredibly expensive when it was made in Taisho or early Showa period.

6)Men's Juban with a lady with tatoo motif! We sometime came across kimono lady motif one, but we have never seen a lady with a tatoo!

7)Cute Polka Dot pattern, Sekka Shibori cotton bolts. They seemed to be made for diaper, but they are not used.

We will add these items in series this week. We are very happy if you could enjoy seeing these exceptionally charming items!
Today we will list 'maisen'(fans for dancing), men's hakama, various komon kimono, furisode, bolts and in antique items corner, sumie pictures(excellent for display!) and interesting washi samplers with English description. We will be very happy if you could find your favorite among them!
We wish you a wonderful December.

Ichiro & Yuka Wada
Kimono Flea Market "ICHIROYA"
http://www.ichiroya.com

e-mail: info@ichiroya.com
address: Asia-shoji Bldg.301
1841-1 Nishi 1 chome
Wakamatsu cho
Tondabayashi city
Osaka 584-0025 JAPAN
TEL&FAX ****( international number ) - 81-721-23-5446

Dear Customers & Friends

Hello from Japan! This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News Letter No 272.
Very busy but exciting three days are ending.

On Friday, we (Ichiro & Yuka) took a customer to the Kiyohara weaving company. They are the tsume tsuzure weaving company, and a customer is very interested in our tsume tsuzure weaving bag. She said she would recommend them to an OWNER of a department store in UK! She knows well about Japanese textiles, and loves the value and beauty of tsume tsuzure weaving, and said that she wants to help them survive in this tough economy. We let her have several samples. She will show them when she meet him just after she comes back to her country. She says she wants to know what will happen when he sees them. We also strongly hope he will like them and start thinking possibilities to sell them.

On Saturday I went to a kind of 'entrepreneur fair', and has 45 minutes lecture presentation. I am not good at public speaking, but the promoter offered me very good pay, and I thought I had never to get away. I was very happy not only for the money - I was proud that promoter thought my story would have such value for his customers. So I accepted the offer with fear. I made slides with presentation soft for the first time, and practiced everyday for these 2 month. I did approx 50 times preliminary practices, and my fear was decreasing, but it was still big challenge for me.
And yesterday, my younger daughter checked my clothes(coordinate), and Yuka heard my last practice and gave me several advices (I envy her because Yuka is good at public speaking! She never get stage flight.)
And at the real part --- I did well than I expected! I didn't get stage fight! I could speak way better than practice! I could observe and enjoy the response of audience, and made some adlib. I could feel my story impressed the audience!
I thought I could never be a good speaker, but it is very important discovery that I CAN BE.

So, I am not an American, but YES WE CAN !

On Sunday, today, we went to Tokyo. One goal is to go to the Goto Museum - they are showing 'Kowatari Sarasa Ten'. 'Kowatari' means 'imported in olden times' - They are the cotton fabrics, which were imported mainly from India in 17 - 18 century. Its red colors and exotic patterns had to be incredible for the people at that age, and they handled them as treasures. Many of them were used to wrap the valuable tea ceremony items ( and became the fabric of shifuku).
At the exhibition, we could see lots of fabulous Kowatari Sarasa at a time, and we are very happy that we could feel the fanatic adoration of the sarasa fabric same as the Edo people.

After the exhibition, we visited Roge san's store in Ogikubo. She has lots of valuable Japanese antique fabrics and some Kowatatri sarasa. It was the first time to visit her store - her store is the genuine treasure box for fabric lovers! We really recommend her store to see vintage and antique fabrics if you go to Tokyo.

The last work of these hard three days was meeting with a famous cartoonist(mangaka-comic artist) Mimei Sakamoto.
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/sakamoto-mimei/
I was a fan of her cartoon - in a bi-weekly magazine, she related her experiences in a serial form. She is also an entertainer, and recently we often see her in TV.
Now she is writing the story, whose theme is 'making money by selling Japanese items on ebay'. The editor and a ebay-seller are helping her, but the first trial didn't go well. And a seller asked us to help her. We had a schedule to come to Tokyo, so we met Sakamoto san at the editor's office, and offer couple of our items for ebay selling.
Sakamoto san was very charming and vivid lady, and looked very delight to get our help. She was a sweet and active person - she is helping with the abduction issue which we all are wishing the issue to be solved. She also sings and have concerts occasionally.
She will write and draw us and the story of selling in her cartoon. It must be fun to see WE APPEAR in her cartoon!

Now I am writing this news letter on the seat of Shinkansen express. And the last work of these three days is ending now ( Yuka is sleeping on the window seat ).

Thank you for reading to the end. Today we will list some synthetic threads, furisode, kimono, Taisho uchikake, bolt and in our antique corner, charming kakejiku are added(excellent items for gift!). We are very happy if you could find your favorite among them!


We wish you a wonderful new week. dozo minasama yoi issyukano.

Ichiro & Yuka Wada
Kimono Flea Market "ICHIROYA"
http://www.ichiroya.com

e-mail: info@ichiroya.com
address: Asia-shoji Bldg.301
1841-1 Nishi 1 chome
Wakamatsu cho
Tondabayashi city
Osaka 584-0025 JAPAN
TEL&FAX ****( international number ) - 81-721-23-5446

Dear Customers & Friends

Hello from Japan! This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News Letter No.271.
Do you know the Japanese word 'kumihimo'? In English, it seems to be said as 'braid', and its technique is used at obijime and haori ties. Recently most of these obijime are made in China, but high-end ones are made in Iga, the most major product center of Japan.
Iga is about an hour drive from our office, and it is famous also for Ninjya. In the samurai age, Iga and Kouga were the two groups of secret agents active.
From olden times, 'kumihimo' technique were used at the various important products - in the Heian Period over 1,000 years ago, it was used as the part of costumes and the ornamentation of instruments. In the samurai era, 'kumihimo' technique became more important, because it was used at weapons and armors. It was also used at cord for tea ceremony items, inrou, tabacoo case and haori ties, and in Edo period, 'kumihimo' industry reached the very top.
In the Meiji period, samurai was prohibited to have sword('decree banning the wearing of swords'), so the market shrinked dramatically, but from Taisho period, kimono industry grew fast, and also 'kumihimo' relived.

Last Monday, Kumiko Muramatsu's accessories arrived and we had already listed them on our site.
http://www.tourjartisan.com/result/artifact.php?srtechnique=Kumihimo

Her accessories are made with traditional 'kumihimo' technique.
http://www.tourjartisan.com/tour/9/tech.html

And her accessories have very modern taste - her items had been sold also at the Kenzo Paris, and is very popular here in Japan. It was two years ago, when we introduced her accessories first time, and they were sold well, and we had to wait for these two years to become to be able to offer her items at our site.

http://www.tourjartisan.com/tour/9/index.html

This time, most of her kumihimo accessories have genuine stones, some have freshwater pearls and they are making such a subtle and enchanting harmony.
If you have metal allergy, kumihomo accessories can be worn with no worries!

Today we will list some men's kimono, bolt and antique items. We are very happy if you could find your favorite among them!
Have a nice weekend!


Ichiro & Yuka Wada
Kimono Flea Market "ICHIROYA"
http://www.ichiroya.com

e-mail: info@ichiroya.com
address: Asia-shoji Bldg.301
1841-1 Nishi 1 chome
Wakamatsu cho
Tondabayashi city
Osaka 584-0025 JAPAN
TEL&FAX ****( international number ) - 81-721-23-5446

Dear Customers & Friends

Hello from Japan! This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News letter No.270.
This is Yuka -today I am writing this newsletter.

I like to thank the customers who bought our kimono dressing DVD.

http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2/129551/

The DVD was made in the summer of 2007. Outside scenes were taken in Kyoto, near Kamo river and
Sen-nyu ji temple, where Kuranosuke Oishi(He is a very famous man who fought to clear his master's name- he fought heading other 46 retainers and achieved the revenge. The story is now one of the most famous Kabuki number.) He was a parishioner of this temple and said to have secret meeting in this temple

http://zuboratarou.blog80.fc2.com/blog-entry-266.html

Inside scenes are taken at our home. My two kitsuke sensei(dressing teacher) appear
in the beginning as models to show some kimono. There was another teacher also as a staff, so there
were three professional teachers `watching` from all the direction while we showed the direction.
Our daughters appear in the DVD and Mugi, our second daughter shows the direction at the most of the part, so there are no famous stars in the DVD...

First I wanted the DVD to be full of fun, I even tried to be a rapper, but after having a lot of talk with the director, I thought it was not a good idea. He had an experience of making DVD with a famous kimono dresser in Japan(The DVD were all in Japanese). He agreed with me that it has to be not too serious, not too complicated. I said, I did not want our customers to become afraid of wearing kimono or feel discouraged. He did not seem to like the idea of eating manju(Japanese cake)in the beginning of the DVD, and also my silly pun `leftover rice`, but I said even if I could not do manju part, I needed to do `leftover rice` part. He reluctantly agreed to have the scene.
Regarding the contents, I have to apologize by saying kimono wearing is so easy. The direction we are showing in the DVD includes formal kimono wearing, so it is not THAT easy as `a piece of cake`.

At first I was thinking about more `quick method` like direction. However, nice kimono line depends on the basic body line after all. Even we know how to tie obi nicely over a kimono, if there is no nice body line (the ideal line is `waistless line`), obi becomes hard to stay and a lot of wrinkles will appear.
Since kimono are made of straight and flat panels, you need to use some narrow ties to wrap the kimono around to fit you. Each narrow ties have meaning, which I thought it was ridiculous at first.
As I talked with my kimono dressing teachers, we realized that the DVD should show the correct way and should be useful for people who like to wear kimono in authentic way without attending kimono dressing classes in Japan. The DVD is showing the real method from the basic part-how to make a waistless line to how to wear formal kimono and tie fancy obi bow.

So my `kimono rap` idea had to be forgotten but as our FIRST DVD project, we really hope we could show the essence of kimono dressing.
We recommend the DVD for these people:
*Someone who are interested in wearing kimono in a traditional way
*Someone who needs to dress in kimono but have no help around
*Someone who like to check what's inside of kimono attire
*Someone who like to have a peek of our house

We are really thankful to all the customers who watched the DVD. Thank you so much for the comment too.

The other day, I received an e-mail from one of our customer with the two photos. She told us she had an important banquet and practiced wearing her furisode(long-sleeve formal kimono) by watching our DVD. We were so impressed to see the photos and the fact she attended a banquet wearing Japanese formal wear like this:

http://www.ichiroya.com/blog/Yuka/20081109


We really hope the DVD did not make anyone stay away from kimono. The DVD shows the basic way but
once you see the way, you can arrange to fit your style. There are MANY different methods invented here too- and many gadget are sold for easier dressing. If you could `invent` new way, we think it is great! If you have something which can be a nice alternative of kimono accessories(for example, dish cloth as a white collar!!), and if they look authentic, I think it is great also!

If you like to see how to wear a yukata(summer kimono) and wear simple obi, you can see the direction at You -Tube. Yukata wearing will be useful for kimono wearing too(if you do not need underkimono, Yukata wearing method will do)

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=kCZtGi21ysM


I am still hoping to make a new DVD some day if we can. Rapping? Singing? I do no know yet.
My dream is big, I hope I can find the good way to convey the fun of kimono.

Today we will list some ohenro jacket, noboribata, men's kaku obi, men's haori tie, obi, kimono fabric, bolts & antique items-enchanting woodblock prints and kakejiku(charming kakejiku boxes too!). We are very happy if you could find your favorite among them!
Ichiro & Yuka Wada
Kimono Flea Market "ICHIROYA"
http://www.ichiroya.com

e-mail: info@ichiroya.com
address: Asia-shoji Bldg.301
1841-1 Nishi 1 chome
Wakamatsu cho
Tondabayashi city
Osaka 584-0025 JAPAN
TEL&FAX ****( international number ) - 81-721-23-5446

Dear Customers & Friends

Hello from Japan! This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News Letter No.269.
Thank you very much for many letters about our previous news letter! Whole world seems to be very busy with something else, but we would like to write simply about dyeing more in this mail.
I am sometimes confused about dyeing technique - various dyeing techniques are used on kimono and antique Japanese textiles, and some are difficult to be distinguished.

And I must come back to the dyeing fundamental, and have a new understanding about dyeing.
For examples, what is the dyeing is? And are there differences between textiles for dyeing?
Dyestuffs melt in the water, and molecule of dye drift in the water. If textiles are soaked in the water with dyestuff, textiles will get the colors of the dyestuff, because molecule leave on the surface of textile. However, when the dyed textiles are soaked in the other water, molecule of dye easily drift into the water, and textiles' color( dyestuff ) must be easily missing. To keep the molecule of the dye on the surface of the textile, there must be some kinds of force which attract each other. Main force of it is ion binding. Molecule of the many dyestuffs are negatively-charged, and silk and wool textiles have strongly positively(and negatively)-charged parts, and these attract each other, and bind strongly. So silk and wool are easy to be dyed, because of their strongly charged surface.
In a contrasting situation, cotton, asa(hemp) and rayon are made of cellulose, and these textiles are not strongly charged, so the negatively-charged dyestuff can't be attracted enough. So these textiles are difficult to be dyed.
To dye this kind of textile, dye mordant are used, which help the binding. In olden times, for the dye mordant, natural material like lixivium, vinegar and caustic lime were used, but after invention of chemical dyestuffs, heavy metal like chrome or copper have been used.

For the dyeing of kimono, 'ganryo'( pigment ) was also used. Pigment doesn't melt into the water. So the pigment only be able to put on the surface of the textiles, and adhensive materials are needed. Pigment will not bleed(because it doesn't melt in the liquid), and colors are vivid and strong to discoloring. However, because of the adhesive materials pigment parts of textile become stiff. Most often used pigment of kimono is 'gofun', which are used white parts of kurotomesode and other dark color kimonos. They have been used from olden times, and it have been made of clam shells. Gofun parts look as if they are painted with white paints as you may know. In olden times, for the adhesive material, egg white was used. It is protein, so after the long time , its part often have discoloration or fungus.
Other examples of 'ganryo' is noboribata, flags for boy's festival days. They are mainly hand painted with 'ganryo' vividly on the cotton textile, which is covered with starch before painting. So the contemporary noboribata often have comparatively stiff touch like starched textile.
Antique tsutsugaki pieces also are also added 'ganryo' colors partly in the white tsutsugaki parts. Some of them seemed to be washed often, and such 'ganryo' colors parts become very pale.

Recently there are another kind of dyestuff. We sometimes write 'dyestuff has resin touch' in the decrypting of our items. It is a same kind of printing of T shirt - pattern made of polyurethane resin is printed. Patterned part has the similar touch to rubber, and they are often peeled after long time stock ( resin parts are layered and sticked, and they can not divided safely ). When such kind of kimono are offered at our kimono auction, auctioneer touches the resin parts, and confirms whether the resin parts are still good or becomes wrong.
We feel the kimono with this kind of prints are not the different thing from real kimono, and we don't offer frequently at our site. However, such kimono are sold much at the kimono retailers, and consuming public seem to prefer them because of its luxuriousness and low cost.
However, resin touch dyestuffs are sometimes partly used in modern high-end kimono and uchikake, and we must think it is a kind of change we can't resist.

Thank you for reading to the end!
Today we will list 4 rare black contemporary uchikake, kimono, silk thread, sekka shibori fabric and bolts. At our antique website we will list fabulous WAKASA Lacquerware and other lacquereware. We will be very happy if you could find your favorite among them!
Ichiro & Yuka Wada
Kimono Flea Market "ICHIROYA"
http://www.ichiroya.com

e-mail: info@ichiroya.com
address: Asia-shoji Bldg.301
1841-1 Nishi 1 chome
Wakamatsu cho
Tondabayashi city
Osaka 584-0025 JAPAN
TEL&FAX ****( international number ) - 81-721-23-5446

Dear Customers & Friends

Hello from Japan! This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News Letter No.268.
A little whole ago, I thought I saw the Armani's poster, which said he could distinguish ten thousand gray colors. It was interesting, and I felt he had to have very strong perception about colors.
When we began our business, we could not believe what some senior kimono dealer said. They said they could tell the fabric with seeing the colors of pattern. For examples, colors on jinken(rayon) and color on silk are different, and they could tell the fabric without touching it. When I heard it, I couldn't believe them. I couldn't see the difference what they indicated, and we thought it was the kind of imagination or fantasy
However, after looking lots of kimonos, we understood what they said. It's true that colors on jinken and silk are different, although we can not write precisely with words how the difference is. By the same token, colors on polyester and silk are also different.
It is interesting that a kind of perception seem to become keen by the experiences - although Mr. Armani must have special inborn gift.
Also about BLACK, there are various kind of black. Mohuku(funeral kimono), men's formal kimono and kurotomesode are made of black silk, and black colors are not same. For us, usual people, telling the difference between various black colors, but the difference can be told when they are put together under various lights.
In Kyoto, there are more than 10 dyers specialized in black dyeing. Of course, other dyers can dye black, but 'kuro-zome-ya'( dyer specialized in black dyeing) can dye especially beautiful and deep black color, which is recognized as special technique. Such 'kuro-zome-ya' usually also dye 'kamon'(family crest), because mohuku and kurotomesode always have kamon.
From olden times, how to get the deep black color have been the ultimate theme. Now, there also is a chemical black dyestuff, but when there were only natural dyestuff, black dyeing technique was the secret of each dyers. There are various technique to get beautiful black color. For examples, there are black color called 'ai-shita' and 'beni-shita' - 'ai-shita' means the fabric is dyed with 'ai' before dyed black. Even now, one of the most expensive black bolt is dyed with this technique, and valuable natural ai is used for dyeing the base of black color. On the contrary, red ('beni') also is used for dyeing black ( at first, dyed with red, and on the red, black dyestuff is dyed).
There is also the famous techinque 'san-do-guro' - technique to get black by three color dyestuffs of red, blue and yellow, three primary colors.
We can know partly how the black color was dyed, if we can see the end of bolt. Labels often have some descriptions, and we sometimes can see the blue or red colors part in the very end of bolts.
If it is completed as kimono, we can't know how the black color was dyed.
However, the genuine value of the black color seems to reveal over a long time. We often sell vintage kurotomesode(it is black), and we often come across the discolored ones. Especially at the border part between solid part and patterned parts, discoloration of black color is prominent. It seems to be because that 'kuro-zome-ya' dyed solid black part with their technique, and left the patterned part blank. Other dyer dyed various motifs in the blank part, and after the color dyeing, they dyed black the rest solid part. So the black part near the patterned part was dyed by the other dyers. When the kimono was new, difference between the black colors couldn't be noticed, but after a long time, the work of professional is proved.
Recently, mass-produced kurotomesode and mohuku seems to be added 'resin' on the black surface, which makes the black color more vivid, and in addition, it guards from stains and water.
Thank you for the reading the end.
We will list some karinui, haori, contemporary uchikake, yukata, bolt and antique items.
We are very happy if you could find your favorite items among them!
Have a nice weekend!

Ichiro & Yuka Wada
Kimono Flea Market "ICHIROYA"
http://www.ichiroya.com

e-mail: info@ichiroya.com
address: Asia-shoji Bldg.301
1841-1 Nishi 1 chome
Wakamatsu cho
Tondabayashi city
Osaka 584-0025 JAPAN
TEL&FAX ****( international number ) - 81-721-23-5446

Dear Customers & Friends

Hello from Japan! This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News Letter No.267.
Today, I found an interesting figures in the news paper

'Nakoudo san disappeared!'
Research of the bridal magazine Zexy provided the astonishing rate - the rate of 'nakodo (go-between)-less' wedding dropped dramatically these ten years. It was 36% in 10 years ago(1994), but after 2004, its rate raised over 99%!

We don't know how the go-between in other counties perform, but 'nakoudo' was very important in our society till only 10 years ago.
When we married approx 25 years ago, we went house of our big boss on Sunday, and asked him and his wife to become our nakoudo. And the next, we asked our immediate boss to attend our wedding as the guest of honor. At the wedding, big boss and his wife dressed very formally, and sit beside us in the front of the guests. At the beginning of the wedding , he talked about us and celebrate as following the custom. As you can easily imagine, the very beginning time of wedding is always covered with very strong tension, and talking formally (with adding humor) in such situation is very hard work for most people.
After the wedding, we had sent 'oseibo' and 'ochugen' gifts twice a year for five years.
When we married, we had to ask someone to become 'nakoudo' - our wedding was very casual (I wore ice hooky uniform during the last half time), but still we didn't think we could have wedding without nakoudo. It was common sense.
And some my friends were puzzled to whom they ask to be 'nakoudo'. There are various bosses - direct boss, former boss, boss of the direct boss, powerful boss, prosperous boss, unfortunate boss, familiar boss, yearning boss, dislikable boss and so on. In addition, some bosses are close, and some are rivals or hate each other. However, they had to chose only a boss for 'nakoudo', so often its decision became the declaration to pledge their loyalty to the particular boss. So the decision often reflect their future promotion and their carrier in their organization(corporation, university, hospital and so on).
Of course, they and we didin't like such 'nakoudo' system, but we understood that our society and corporation were such thing.

However, young people seem not to endure such situation, and quit 'nakodo' system dramatically. As the newspaper also wrote, life-time employment became a thing of the past, and recently young people don't have such strong royalty to their organization. They must think like this - if our bosses can' guarantee our employment, why do we need to pledge their loyalty at our very PRIVATE occasion - our wedding?

Not only the finance system, but also various systems and things changed dramatically for these ten years. In terms of the wedding style, wedding party at the restaurant and house are increasing, although we had only two choices at our age - hotel or wedding center. Wedding parties seem to become more casual and individual, it is also connected to the collapse of life-time employment security. Every changes of our society seem to connect each other strongly.

We understand young people's mind, but we must say that we are very astonished by this big and rapid change. 'Nakoudo' disappeared suddenly! It was funny that I was worried that we had to be 'nakoudo' someday when I was working for a department store. I didn't need to worry!
We knew the average age of first marriage must be getting higher but the record was higher than we assumed. During these ten years, the average age became higher about three years and the average age is 31.7 years old(men) and 29.4 years old(women).
One of the photographer staff who was working with us had a baby two days ago. The baby(girl)'s name is Yuine(in kanji, yui writes `to tie or bond and ne writes `sound` or `music`). It used to be
most girls had `Ko` at the end(Michiko, Keiko, Yoko, Yukiko and so on) but now it seems name with Ko is less and less. Teachers at schools are having hard time reading students' names because the names are getting so unique
The news of recent economy is not bright but we have another staff who is expecting her baby in coming spring. We are so excited and looking forward to seeing the baby. It is amazing little babies can bring so much joy to everyone.

Thank you for reading to the end. Today we will list brand new washable kimono, brand new zori, medashi(obi fabric sample), haori, bolt and at antique website, charming stencil paper (katagami),lacquered wooden hanger and plates and other interesting antique items. We are very happy if you could find your favorite among them.

Hello from Japan! This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News letter No.266.
The air is getting cooler here- we pulled out winter clothing and thicker futon yesterday.
We found it is getting harder to get up in the morning!

Today, I(Yuka) is writing this newsletter.
At 8:00PM on Sunday night, we have NHK period drama-always the drama is about a historical figure.
This year the drama is Atsuhime it is about life of Princess Atsu. The story is based a novel by Tomiko Miyao(very famous woman writer).

http://www.nhk.or.jp/taiga/
The drama at this hour is always popular but I thought NHK drama is for older people but this Atsuhime was fascinating.
The drama has 50 episodes--the life of Atsuhime, who came from Satsuma clan to be a wife of Tokugawa Iesada, the thirteenth shogun of the Edo shogunate. Iesada died young(1824-1858)but Atsuhime was a very bright woman and lived as Tenshoin after Iesada died and dedicated for the survival of Tokugawa government. She supported Iesada and they went through the turblent era together-the era when the Black Ships came, the power of feudal government was in decline and soon they had the end of long period of isolation.

There was another history with Tokugawa government-it is ?oku�iOo oku). It can be translated as `inner palace'. Actually it is a very particular kind of place which existed ONLY to have heir of Shogun and continuation of Tokugawa's reign. The core of Edo castle, Edojo honmaru had three parts, Omote muki(the center of goverenment), Naka oku(official residence of Shogun) and Oooku(private residence). It is surprising to hear Oooku had more than 60 percent of the castle.
There were approx 1000 women lived in Oooku when the government was in flourish(No men admitted in Oooku). Atsuhime also lived in a feud among this women's world-even though Midaidokoro(Shogun's lady) is a Queen and top of Oooku, there were all the older women with power.

How Oooku begun-the second shogun Hidetada was said to have made this system, at first to keep women staying out of politics. After that a fostermother of Iemitsu(the third shogun)made the solid foundation of the system. She devoted her life for iemitsu and found him a partner since he had no heir. With this fostermother's effort, the succession issue was solved and Oooku started to have more power over politics (it is so ironic!).
There were approx 1000 women there, and there were very strict classes. Higher level maids had many servants. Women from certain classes could see Shogun but lower level maids could not meet Shogun even though they lived in Oooku. Once a women wins Shogun's favor, her level automatically rises,
and if she could have a baby, she has a strong position and power in Oooku. So there seemed to be very dark side of course(accidental miscarriage, poisoning and so on).
The high expense of Oooku put pressure on Tokugawa government but Oooku never compromised. Women
in Oooku were known to have very big salary-the high level maid had 2 senman yen(approx US $200000) as annual salary and even the lower level maid received more than twice of the amount of ordinary people's salary, and women who come back from Oooku after working sometime were welcomed and so honored.
Oooku system must sounds so odd but they had very big power and influence over Tokugawa government because of succession issue. Oooku was made for Shogun but Shogun and government had to admit their
power and could not ignore them anymore. When Tokugawa lost their power, Oooku eventually could not exist but I think you know why there are so many drama and movies about Oooku are made. Oooku evokes our curiosity, scandals, accident, so much human drama but it is really true Oooku played an important role in the history of Tokugawa era. It seemed it is ridiculous 1000 women lived for one Shogun but after all they had moved politics.

I mentioned, there were a lot of classes in Oooku. There were a lot of detailed rules of hair style,and what to wear according to calendar and occasion. Midaidokoro (Princess) had to change kimono 5 times a day!
I really recommend the drama `Atsuhime`, if you have a chance to see. You can enjoy the story and also `fabulous` kimono worn by women in Oooku.
Sayuri(Memories of a Geisha) was a very popular movie but I think a movie about a life in Oooku must be a perfect subject- and wondering if there are anyone in movie industry, I think Atsuhime (or other stories in Oooku- there are so much drama!)can make a great movie!
Thank you very much for reading to the end.

Today we are listing kimono and kimono set(bargaub!). We have interesting Antique items too!
Please check our new arrivals.
We wish you a nice week-dozo minasama yoi issyukano.


Ichiro & Yuka Wada
Kimono Flea Market "ICHIROYA"
http://www.ichiroya.com

e-mail: info@ichiroya.com
address: Asia-shoji Bldg.301
1841-1 Nishi 1 chome
Wakamatsu cho
Tondabayashi city
Osaka 584-0025 JAPAN
TEL&FAX ****( international number ) - 81-721-23-5446