Saturday, 22 July 2006
Last night we went to the Shibukawa Heso Matsuri (or Shibukawa Festival) for the very good reason that we were dancing in the parade dressed all fancy in our Yukata (which is essentially a summer kimono - less formal and cooler (well, in theory)).
We got to Shibukawa (which is about an hour away) around 3pm and met up with Michelle and Canadian Sara by a stroke of luck (we got a bit lost but then just happened to drive past them walking down the street). We then went to Kimiko's house who had kindly agreed to help us dress in our yukatas. And, to be honest, wearing a yukata is easy - it's getting the length even and tieing up the obi which is troublesome.
The yukata is like a very long bathrobe with no ties. Basically you put it on and it is folded over at the waist with a cloth tie to get the length right. For women it is barely touching the tops of your feet and for girls it is a bit higher up - around the ankle. Then the obi, which is a long strip of fancy material about six inches wide, is tied around the middle with a bow at the back. It's worn around the abdomen - between your breasts and waist. Some use padding to keep the obi flat and to stop in wrinkling and bunching. There are several different types of bow - a girl will have a different bow to a married woman for example. And most gaijin don't have the best body type for a yukata. A straight up and down body is perfect but hips and breasts just get in the way.
The yukata is worn with the left side over the right side (the other way means you're dead or something). The yukata meets right below your neck but is meant to gape at the nape of the neck. It's also difficult to sit down and keep the obi flat which is the reason for all the kneeling in Japan. You are also meant to walk modestly - normal walking will make the yukata gape at the front and people will see your legs which is not modest. The correct walk is achieved if you imagine that your knees are tied together and take tiny, princess-like steps. This method of walking makes it hard to keep up if everyone else is walking like an immodest foreigner. It also means you have to kind of shuffle your feet, hence the slip on wooden shoes. Unfortunately I couldn't find proper shoes to fit (damn you wide gaijin feet) so had to wear thongs (flip flops for you Americans).
So here I am having my obi tied by Kimiko. Immediately after this photo was taken, Kimiko's father (Papa) untied my obi and re-tied it twice before deciding it was perfect.
Here's the finished product.
And here are the three of us looking gorgeous and ready to go.
Here are all the girls ready for the festivities to commence.
After getting all dressed up, the whole group of us wandered down to the main street to check out the sights. I felt a bit like a monkey in a zoo because everyone stared at us. At one point we all stood out the front of the meeting point and had eight different strangers taking photos of us. A bunch of the boys and two other girls (Kate and Jess) were going to be doing the belly dance as part of the festival so were having their bellies painted. Girls are allowed to participate but have to wear a t-shirt with a face painted on it.
Here are the belly dancers ready to go.
They have fake arms tied around their middle complete with little jackets. They also wear enormous hats that hide their faces so it looks like their stomachs are actually their faces as they dance.
So at 6:30pm we all line up and start the dancing. I'm not very co-ordinated but by about 7:30pm, I had the hang of it. The others had it nailed in about 10 minutes. And dancing is tiring folks. We danced for about 20 minutes then there was a 10 minute break where drinks were handed out. Then more dancing, and another break until 8:30pm. I had a fantastic time, thanks go the Chau for organising it and Sarah for volunteering me to participate.
Here's Megan and I with two of the guys handing out drinks. And yes, they are dressed in French Maid costumes. And no, I have no idea why. Weird huh?
I've posted more photos on my Flickr site if you are interested.
We got to Shibukawa (which is about an hour away) around 3pm and met up with Michelle and Canadian Sara by a stroke of luck (we got a bit lost but then just happened to drive past them walking down the street). We then went to Kimiko's house who had kindly agreed to help us dress in our yukatas. And, to be honest, wearing a yukata is easy - it's getting the length even and tieing up the obi which is troublesome.
The yukata is like a very long bathrobe with no ties. Basically you put it on and it is folded over at the waist with a cloth tie to get the length right. For women it is barely touching the tops of your feet and for girls it is a bit higher up - around the ankle. Then the obi, which is a long strip of fancy material about six inches wide, is tied around the middle with a bow at the back. It's worn around the abdomen - between your breasts and waist. Some use padding to keep the obi flat and to stop in wrinkling and bunching. There are several different types of bow - a girl will have a different bow to a married woman for example. And most gaijin don't have the best body type for a yukata. A straight up and down body is perfect but hips and breasts just get in the way.
The yukata is worn with the left side over the right side (the other way means you're dead or something). The yukata meets right below your neck but is meant to gape at the nape of the neck. It's also difficult to sit down and keep the obi flat which is the reason for all the kneeling in Japan. You are also meant to walk modestly - normal walking will make the yukata gape at the front and people will see your legs which is not modest. The correct walk is achieved if you imagine that your knees are tied together and take tiny, princess-like steps. This method of walking makes it hard to keep up if everyone else is walking like an immodest foreigner. It also means you have to kind of shuffle your feet, hence the slip on wooden shoes. Unfortunately I couldn't find proper shoes to fit (damn you wide gaijin feet) so had to wear thongs (flip flops for you Americans).
So here I am having my obi tied by Kimiko. Immediately after this photo was taken, Kimiko's father (Papa) untied my obi and re-tied it twice before deciding it was perfect.
Here's the finished product.
And here are the three of us looking gorgeous and ready to go.
Here are all the girls ready for the festivities to commence.
After getting all dressed up, the whole group of us wandered down to the main street to check out the sights. I felt a bit like a monkey in a zoo because everyone stared at us. At one point we all stood out the front of the meeting point and had eight different strangers taking photos of us. A bunch of the boys and two other girls (Kate and Jess) were going to be doing the belly dance as part of the festival so were having their bellies painted. Girls are allowed to participate but have to wear a t-shirt with a face painted on it.
Here are the belly dancers ready to go.
They have fake arms tied around their middle complete with little jackets. They also wear enormous hats that hide their faces so it looks like their stomachs are actually their faces as they dance.
So at 6:30pm we all line up and start the dancing. I'm not very co-ordinated but by about 7:30pm, I had the hang of it. The others had it nailed in about 10 minutes. And dancing is tiring folks. We danced for about 20 minutes then there was a 10 minute break where drinks were handed out. Then more dancing, and another break until 8:30pm. I had a fantastic time, thanks go the Chau for organising it and Sarah for volunteering me to participate.
Here's Megan and I with two of the guys handing out drinks. And yes, they are dressed in French Maid costumes. And no, I have no idea why. Weird huh?
I've posted more photos on my Flickr site if you are interested.
posted by Laziest Girl at 11:56 am
3 Comments:
Oh really? Isn't that interesting that it took you from 6:30pm to 7:30pm to get the dance right. Yeeeeeessssss... And you blamed ME for the Macedonian Dancing Debacle. My shins will never be the same. :-)
Here are some links that I believe will be interested
Greets to the webmaster of this wonderful site! Keep up the good work. Thanks.
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