日本での発見 / Discoveries in Japan #27: 着物 / Kimono

It has taken a trip across the ocean, away from a house full of kimonos, for me to become interested in them.

A kimono is literally a thing to be worn—and once upon a time people wore it on a daily basis. Modernization and westernization changed much of that practice, but the art and craft of making—wearing, enjoying—kimonos lives on. The details and intricacies of the designs, weaved and dyed in the same way for hundreds of years, the richness of the textiles, the attention paid to the seasons, the startling combinations of colors, the layers, the layers...

Except now there are too many layers, and so few people have any reason to learn how to wear them. It's like a 한복 (hanbok)—people only wear them on special occasions. A kimono—kimono, 着物—so stately, so weigty—it's like driving a car, an unwritten rule that says the "right" way to learn is from your dad. That's how I feel about wearing a kimono: I wished my mother were here so that I could learn from her. But calling California is free, and friends save me from expensive kitsuke lessons.

でも、やっぱり呉服屋の敷居は高すぎる気がする・・・