Japanese movie

Yesterday, I watched an old Japanese movie called "Taketori Monogatari" or "Princess from the Moon". It's based on the old folklore about the lady who came to Earth from the moon, but this is more science fiction-y.

A poor bamboo cutter and his wife lost their pretty young daughter, Kaya. While they were grieving, they saw a strange light in the forest, so the bamboo cutter went to investigate. Next to Kaya's grave, he found a pod which cracked open to reveal a baby girl who grows up to resemble Kaya. The couple adopt the girl.

Kaya grows up abnormally quickly to become a very beautiful woman, who captures the heart of all men. Eventually, three noblemen from the Emperor's court propose to her. To test their sincerity, Kaya sets each of them an impossible task, but only one honestly attempts to accomplish it.

When Kaya has finally found happiness, it is revealed that her origins are from the moon, where she is due to return.

The story is set in the year 796AD i.e. the Heian era (circa 794AD to 1185AD). Nevertheless, the costumes and kimono are still very beautiful. The style they are wearing is called "juni hitoe", literally meaning "twelve layers". It was the typical fashion in the Imperial court of the Heian era.

The movie is alright, but true to old science fiction, it is really really corny. I absolutely hate how lame the ending is, but otherwise, it is quite a nice movie to watch, if only for the kimono.

I have taken several snapshots of the movie so I could share them.

Kaya's mother:

The house. Kaya's parents:
The family. Kaya is in pink:
Mother and daughter:
Kaya and her friend Akeno:
Mother and daughter, goodbye:
Before the emperor:

The Empress (in purple) and her court ladies:

Enjoy!

Outfit Snap: Pics of me in kimono

Well, a long long time ago, I promised I'd post pics of the exhibit! Well, honestly, I've only got one picture of Takenoko-san and I, posing with her infamous ship hikizuri. It's a gorgeous purple piece!

So here we are...

I'm the one in the kimono:

This was the kimono I wore:

This was the obi I matched it with:

As well as the obiage:

You like?

New kimono shops!

Hello!

Yesterday, I happened to find an old old yukata shop I haven't been to in a long long time!! It's called Kamoya and it's got loads and loads of stuff I want to buy!! Ahhh, how I wish I could just buy the whole shop! *sighs dreamily*

Amongst the things that I want, the following ones are the yukata sets I like best!!

What I like most about them is how modern they all are!! With these sets, I can sooooo picture a kimono-hime style! Only thing is, it'll cost ￥7245 (roughly an equivalent of US$72.45 or £34.41 or RM217.45) for each set. Well.... It costs less than if I were to go to Japan and buy them, but still!! Just look at the price x_x

Moving on, just a little while ago, I found the website of another one of my favourite eBay sellers!! It's name is Japanese Antiques. Very nice stuff, very user friendly website! The kimono etc. might be a little more expensive than eBay, but if you were to look at the quality, you'd understand why!

So have a look at both websites and enjoy!

Closet Feature: Kimono Item of the Week~~

Okay, sorry for not updating, but in my defense, I've been busy since Patrick came down for half-term. We went out to a load of places and pigged out the whole week!

Anyway, this week's kimono item is a furisode I just won last week! I've paid for it already, but it might take some time to go through, so it'll be a while (a month, I think) before I'll finally receive it.

The kimono:

The kimono, front:
Detailing at the bottom of the kimono:
Sleeve detailing:
Flower details (peonies):

Yeah! Isn't it so pretty??? It's my most expensive online-bought kimono yet at $87! While I notice I do tend to buy kimono that are pale, I guess it's alright since I usually buy obi which are bright coloured anyway!

I'm not entirely sure which obi I'll match this one with, but I think the fukuro obi I bought in Singapore will go quite well. I haven't a picture with me at the moment, but if I remember correctly, it's black based with hexagons (kikkou; tortoise shell pattern) and flowers in silver, gold and orange. I'll have to see, though, in case the dark bits on the furisode are actually dark blue rather than black!

Now for the furisode details!! It's silk, as always, and the perfect length for me at 160.5cm. The wingspan is slightly longer than usual at 131.5cm, but I guess it's all the better for me! Show less skin and all that jazz. The sleeve length isn't as long as I'd like at 97.5cm, but it's long enough!

For those who gave comments, here are my replies!

Lin> Hey!! Yeah, I completely forgot you were in London in December. *pouts* I didn't know it either, till I was already home!! Haha... Yeah, a pity you didn't watch Wicked - it really was wicked!! *hearts* Take care too!! ^___^

arashi > Thank you! I visited your blog as well, and while I don't understand Spanish, the pictures you post are very beautiful.

Thank you for visiting! ^___^

Lord of the Rings

Rating: 3.5/5

Well, I don't really want to do a section by section review, so I'll just rant abit..

Well, the story was as we all know it, but really really.... short. Very condensed, no real detail, but that's cos it was only 2.5 hours, so I can't really blame them.

The props were BRILLANT!! Best props I've ever seen for a play or musical! The floor MOVES! And not just rotation.. It rises and lowers too!! Coolness.

The music.. Well, there were some songs which were alright, some which were so-so, and some which are soooo terribly addictive that you'll never stop listening to them. Well, at least in my case that's true, cos I love sweet, sad songs! *heart*

What I really didn't like about the whole thing is that it just isn't... 'wow'. There isn't anything that takes my breath away, nothing that moves me to tears, nothing that makes me laugh hysterically. I don't think it was loud enough either. But I must say, watching it makes me reaaaaaally want to read the book and watch the movies! Hehehe..

Well, all in all, I'll have to say that I wish I hadn't watched the movies before watching this. This kind of feels more like a preview of the movies instead.

I'm really having mixed feelings over this! At times I'll think it isn't worth the money, but the suddenly I'll think that parts of it were absolutely beautiful. It just doesn't stick in my head or 'wow' me as much as say, LesMis or Wicked does.

Watch it and see for yourself!

Patrick's half-term

It's Patrick's half-term! He came to London on Wednesday, but there were major delays and problems with the trains and such, so a 2 and 1/2 hour trip turned into a 5 hour trip!! Talk about bad luck with public transport...

Well, since he arrived so late, I cooked dinner instead, which I was actually planning to do all along :P I cooked a very simple Italian dinner. Started with garlic bread, then a main of spaghetti with prawns and rocket in a sauce of chilli, tomato and lemon. For some reason, it didn't taste as nice as the first time I made it. Dessert was banoffee pie for the boys (Patrick's friend Felix is staying over too), and I had brownies topped with cheesecake, all bought from Waitrose. Yum!

On Thursday, I had a mandatory class, so Patrick and Felix went to their friend Jack's place. Later on, we met up for dinner, and went to Abeno Too. It was surprisingly packed! Since it was Valentine's Day, ALL the okonomiyaki were heart-shaped! So cuuuute! Hehehee..... I didn't take any pics, but my classmate did (bumped into her there), so once I get pics from her, I'll post some here!

Today, I went to class, but halfway through, I realised that my coursework group was completely absent except for Andria. I called them, and found out that, while we finished the coursework early, no one bothered to hand it in!! So I skipped the second half of lectures to print our coursework, fill in the form, and hand it in.

After that, I stopped by the Post Office to post a letter, then went to HSBC to settle my debit card thingy. Eventually, my period cramps got bad enough that I went to Boots and got some Feminax.

Since I was at Liverpool Street station at the time, I decided to meet up with my brother at South Kensington to have lunch at Kulu Kulu, only to realise it was too late and it was closed. So instead, we went to Richoux (the one across the road from Harrods) and had an alright lunch. Nothing really exceptional. Didn't have scones :( Regret that now...

After lunch, we went to Harrods to look around and get some food. We ended up buying some sauces, biscuits, jams and honey, as well as some Krispy Kreme. We bought a dozen, and the guy at the counter gave us free samples. So nice of him! No one in front of us got any hehehe.

Now, it's practically a tradition that everytime Patrick comes to London, we watch at least one play. Today, we went to watch Lord of the Rings. It was okaaaaaay. Will post a review straight after this, cos I don't want this to get too long :P Ciao!

Kimono Weekend

I wore kimono again on Saturday! But yeah, what's the point of posting about it if I can't take pictures -_____________- Can't wait for Mum to send my camera charger over!! It comes with a dress and biscuits too *heart heart heart*!


Anyway, anyone remember that maroon kimono I never knew what to wear with? This one, I mean:

Well, it has longer sleeves than any other kimono I have in England (all my furisode are in Malaysia) at 59cm, and I really wanted to wear something with long sleeves.. Only the longest juban sleeve I had was 52cm, which was waaaay too short, and I didn't know what obi to match it with.

Eventually, I just wore it with this obi:

Not the greatest match, I know. But hey, at least it worked alright! I thought it might be abit too busy for my taste cos the kimono has patterns all over it, and the obi.. Well, you can see the obi ^^;; I thought the colour worked well, though. The obi has maroon on it too, but the background is white, so the maroon isn't overwhelming. The beige on it looks very similar in shade to the kimono lining, which is pale orange. The green adds abit of a different colour to it and makes it less boring.

In addition, I wore a black obiage and a green-and-gold obijime, plus my orange, brown and black zori. I notice I really like my black obiage. :P

I did wear it out of the house - but only to Waitrose and the drycleaner's. That's just up the road from my flat (across the main gates of our community, really), and takes a 5min walk. I still did get a number of comments and praise though ^___^ *happiness*

I meant to wear it on Friday afternoon, really, but Mel and I decided to go out and eat, and I really didn't want to roam around London at night in a kimono (somehow, I don't feel safe - particularly since I can't run in a kimono!) so I wore it on Saturday instead. Doesn't hurt that International Kimono Day for February was on Saturday too! Hehehe...

Anyway, I missed posting this weekend, but I'll make up for it later (I'm at school now, so I haven't any nice pics on hand). Buh-bye!

Different types of kimono - part 1

There are many different types of kimono, each defined by its sleeve length, the pattern, the flow of the pattern, the colour, and many other various factors. I do not claim to know all of them, but I will seek to post as much about each type as I know.

Over the next few weeks, I will be slowly defining and identifying the few types I do know of. Please enjoy!

Furisode

Furisode is the most formal of kimono which may be worn by a young unmarried woman. In the past, most women married young. However, in modern life, most women do not marry until their late twenties. As such, it is generally accepted that a woman may wear furisode until she turns 25. I am not sure how widely known this 'rule' is, but I don't think I'll follow it :P

Furisode literally means 'swinging sleeves'. This is because of the length of its sleeves, which may range from knee-length to ankle-length. When a woman walks, the long sleeves swing in the wind, and is said to have been created to attract a man's attention (riiiiight).

In the pictures I have posted, I particularly like the last two, as they are Disney kimono. The fourth one is based on Snow White, while the last one is an accurate sketch of the Sleeping Beauty-themed kimono. I would absolutely love for one of these, only they cost ￥630 000 each! And that's only the furisode - no obi, no juban, nothing! *shivers* I want that for my 21st birthday.....

Oh well, till next week then! ^_^

-The Disney kimono pictures were actually screenshots of a slideshow. I cannot find the website anymore - if someone out there knows it, please send it to me! Thanks

Closet Feature: Kimono Item of the Week

This week's item is a white obi with a red flower and white tassels. Yay for white obi!!! This piece is synthetic and cost US$4.99. Not bad for an obi of such good condition, and with a very nice length of 360cm too!

I'm not actually sure what flower it is - all I know is that I think it's pretty! *squees* Uh... Not exactly sure what I'll match it with either, but I'll think of something! Maybe I'll try to pair it with my dark blue komon... Or that maroon komon with black patterns... Or maybe I ought to buy a new kimono to match it with!! *muahahahahahaha* ;P Toodles!