What’s In a Motif? Part 7

On The Sixth Day Of Fun I present... another colorful entry in another ongoing series! Since tomorrow’s feature won’t have any images I figured I’d break up the time between reading walls of text and fixating on pretty images ^^v

Water (水) - Mizu Rarity: Common Seasons: All This is such a versatile motif that it can be used during any month, season, or event as it always has auspicious undertones. But, unlike many other motifs, the way in which it’s presented can drastically change its meaning. So, let’s look a bit closer by breaking it down into two categories! Waves (波) - Nami This is the type of water that you see churning, like the examples on either side of the visual above. Waves are considered signs of change as fast flowing water cannot help but make the landscape different. Although they can bring damage along with change, they are respected as member of the natural cycle of destruction and rebirth.  Rivers/Streams (川) - Kawa Basically the blanket term for water that does not have any waves. It is almost the opposite of waves as rivers/streams represent calm tranquility with a change that is slow/stable but predictable.   Additionally, the color of the water can have different meanings depending on the season. It’s very common to see orange colored waves during cold months, and this is no accident! It’s thought that the color blue is more appropriate for summer as it evokes thoughts of refreshing water that’s perfect for swimming or cooling off with during the oppressively humid Japanese summers. In contrast, orange is warm and evokes a sense of heat when worn in the snow ^^

What’s That Thing? Part 11

I really liked this question, so I’ve been holding onto it until I had more time to answer it! Anonymous asked: “Hi! Could you tell us about rare kanzashi motifs, such as sunflowers and so on? Thanks!” As much as I love this question, it’s much harder to answer than most people may think. Often times only an image or two are known to exist of special maiko kanzashi, and many times the original image is either deleted or the source is lost. You can find many examples on Pintrest, but I absolutely refuse to use it as all of the images are stolen; that is, they’re not uploaded by the original owner nor do the vast majority (99%) actually link back to the original source. If you want to go on Pintrest and search around then be my guest, but I will not promote something that hurts many of my friends and promotes the image theft mentality that is so prevalent today. As a very quick and noticeable example, I can’t show you images of Toshikana’s beautiful sunflower kanzashi because they were uploaded onto Tumblr and Pintrest without the permission of the owner, Kind of Blue on Flickr, so KoB simply deleted it from their Flickr feed in an attempt to stop its unauthorized spread. When we do not respect the photographers and the owners of images we all lose out, so please don’t engage in hurtful activities for your own selfish and temporary pleasure. With that said, here are some of my favorite rare motifs:

Image courtesy of a friend who wishes to remain anonymous. March Hina Matsuri (雛祭) - Girl’s Day Dolls Worn by: Mameteru (まめ照) of Tama (多麻) in Gion Kobu and Toshikana (とし夏菜) of Komaya (駒屋) in Miyagawa Cho. A very unique entry as it’s worn during the entire month of March and not just on Girl’s Day (March 3rd). It features the main dolls that are found in each Hina Matsuri set: an emperor and an empress. They usually wear the traditional Heian Period clothing with long, flowing robes, but they’re simplified in this piece so as to not drown out of the flowers. Hina Matsuri dolls always sit on special platforms that usually have a checkered background and a small stage that usually features kamon (which you can see above). Surrounding the dolls are peach blossoms in pink and orange blossoms in white. Peach blossoms are very distinct in tsumami kanzashi as they have a unique petal fold that is not used with any other flower. 

Image courtesy of Kimono De Go. August Chidori To Nami (千鳥と波) - Plovers and Waves Worn by: Kotoha (琴葉) of Tama (多麻) in Gion Kobu Easily one of the most famous maiko kanzashi of all time, it was sold by Meikoukai, who are very prominent kanzashi dealers located in Tokyo. It fuses tsumami zaiku with paper curling techniques to create a dynamic and memorable motif of plovers flying among waves. The plovers are actually mounted on springs too, so when the maiko moves it gives the effect that the birds are really flying! 

Image courtesy of Sakuchan. May - July Suzuran (鈴蘭) - Lily of The Valley Worn by: Katsutomo (佳つ智) of Odamoto (小田本) in Gion Kobu and Toshikana (とし夏菜) of Komaya (駒屋) in Miyagawa Cho A beautiful piece that’s both elegant and very sparkly, lilies of the valley are among a rare few motifs that can be worn for more than one month at a time, and one of a handful of motifs that can be worn during the summer and all season divide. 

Image courtesy of Ikuokaya. January and February Yukiwa (雪輪) - Snowflakes Worn by: Mamesome (豆そめ) of Ninben (亻) in Gion Kobu This is a very special kanzashi as it breaks the norm of tsumami style kanzashi and features a very modern design of traditional Japanese and Western snowflakes. Like the plover kanzashi, the white metal snowflakes are all mounted on springs, so it looks very enchanting when worn!

Image courtesy of Maya Kanzashi’s Blog. January Hagoita (羽子板) - Battledore Worn by: Hisamomo (久桃) of Tanmika (丹美賀) in Pontocho Pontocho is very special as most maiko will switch to the yearly kanzashi motif after January 12th, but it’s not a strict rule. In this case, Hisamomo wore this kanzashi for the later half of January in 2016. The three hagoita are beautifully crafted and feature three physical aspects of her career as a maiko: her personal use accessories (kago and okobo), her image as a maiko, and her hair ornaments. You can see her wearing this piece here. I may continue this question in a second part later, but this one took up a great amount of time just trying to find the original sources for many of these pictures.