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 ^^

Mind Your Manners - Part 1

Patreon supporters were made aware that I’d be starting this series during The Twelve Days of Fun about a month ago, so for Day 4 I present this new feature! It’ll mostly be in a quick format like Motif, but sometimes it may go longer if there’s plenty of back story. All lessons here on etiquette and manners were learned via interaction with elders, either from personal experiences or having them being pointed out to me. So, without further ado, let’s get to it! When wearing kimono, it is highly taboo to wear a furisode while pregnant. This may seem a bit odd or it may make sense depending on how much background knowledge you have, but bear with me while I explain. Now, in modern times, kimono are being worn in new and inventive ways to refresh the old and stuffy rules that used to bind the garment. However, even in modern times the taboo of wearing a furisode while pregnant is still present and does not appear to be going away anytime soon. So, why is this such a big deal? Well.... Furisode are a type of kimono that are meant to be worn by unmarried women. Since childbirth has almost always been seen as an effect of marriage it goes against what the furisode symbolizes: childhood. The swinging furisode sleeves are meant to attract a mate, yet they also serve the additional purpose of telling everyone that the wearer is young and inexperienced in the ways of the world. Since a married woman is considered educated and mature it goes against everything that the furisode stands for. Sure, if you really wanted to then you could wear a furisode while pregnant, but that’s like having a hobby of developing interesting recipes that use human flesh as a base; it’s not illegal, but it’s going to alienate you from everyone around you as you somehow happened to miss an important memo on social norms and taboos. 

Random Fact of The Week 8/12

Welcome back everyone! I hope that you haven’t missed the weekly features too much ^^ On formal occasions and greetings, maiko and geiko will always walk with the members of their naming line rather than those from their okiya. The strict hierarchy of seniority is also followed with the most senior in the front and the most junior in the back The only time that this will deviate is when the most junior will swiftly walk ahead of her onesan to open doors and hold back noren for her. In most instances women of the same naming line happen to be from the same okiya, but its not uncommon for naming lines to be introduced into other okiya. In the instance where a woman is not part of a specific naming line she will simply walk with other women who are not part of a naming line or possibly even the other women of her okiya ^^