Kanzashi of The Month: January - 2023′s Design

On The Twelfth Day Of Fun I present... this year’s kanzashi! Thank you to everyone who’s been following along with the features this year! If I didn’t get to your ask during TTDOF then please know that I still may have it kicking around and will get to it eventually. For now, let’s look at what 2023′s bringing us!

Image courtesy of Shigemori.  Sensu (扇子) - Folding Fans Matsu (松) - Pine Kangiku (寒菊) - Winter Chrysanthemum This year’s kanzashi has a nice, classic look to it with shiny folding fans accented with bright green pine! It’s cute to notice that the plum blossoms on the middle of the fans cover each color that plum blossoms bloom in (white, pink, and red) and don’t repeat. The pine makes a very bold and masculine statement to balance out the very feminine folding fans and plum blossoms, giving it a yin yang feel. As usual, we have kangiku acting as a base, with pink and white being used for senior maiko, like Fukusono above. 

Image courtesy of Kazurasei.  2023 just happens to be the Year of The Rabbit in the Asian zodiac! Known for being the luckiest of the twelve animals, rabbits are also blessed with intellect and charm. In Japanese mythology it is said that a rabbit resides on the moon pounding mochi (rice cakes). There’s an interesting story of how the rabbit got on the moon in the first place: One day the king of the gods came through the forest disguised as a beggar. Various animals all came to offer the beggar something to eat, but the rabbit could only provide grass. In an act of self sacrifice, the rabbit threw itself onto a fire to cook itself for the beggar. The king, recognizing the rabbit’s sacrifice, placed the rabbit on the moon for all to see and thus the rabbit now lives on the moon ^^

Mind Your Manners - Part 2

So originally I was going to make this far more regular, but since I haven’t posted about it since December (whoops) I figured that we could all use a bit of etiquette in our daily lives. Once again, these lessons were all imparted to me by the many people who have given their time in educating me over the past decade or so in various forms, so I’m not just pulling these out of thin air. Hopefully I do a decent job at explaining things so as not to appear like a snob ^^; Never take pictures of yourself holding a dance fan whose school you are not affiliated with. This one is pretty straightforward and one that I know I’ve asked in detail about before. Fans that display the kamon of a specific dance school are given to dancers for special occasions or milestones in their artistic careers. Therefore, if the fan was not directly given to you by your dance teacher then you are making the fan out to be a commodity that can be bought and sold on a whim. As an example, I own a lovely collection of Inoue fans, but I never try to call them “mine” for this reason; they were not originally given to me, but rather I hold onto them so as to teach others and conserve them for the future. They are still Chieju’s fans (and other anonymous maiko and geiko), and they will always be theirs. Because of this, no image has ever been taken of me holding any of them. I rarely handle them to begin with, but I have never posed with them, even in their folded states or while preparing them for displays.  For a sub rule, it’s also rude to use a fan that has another dancer’s name printed on it somewhere.   This shows ownership and the soul that an artist has put into that fan, so showing off a fan whose owner’s name has been inscribed somewhere is a step below directly linking it to a specific school. If you want to take pictures with a fan, make sure that it doesn’t have a school’s kamon on it or a signature as the fan then becomes anonymous and not directly tied to a specific affiliation.  If anyone is interested, you can check out my Inoue fan collection here ^^

The majority of the Inoue fans. Instagram has cut off the sides, but they can still be seen quite well ^^ They include: a maiko fan, two geiko fans, a natori promotion fan, a bunch of natori fans, and a practice fan. #maiko #geiko #geisha #kyoto #inoue #gion #gionkobu #sensu #fan #foldingfan #dancefan #japanesefan #井上　#京都　#京舞 #祇園　#祇園甲部　#舞扇　#舞妓　#芸妓　#井上流　#扇子　#名取