How to Wear Your Zouri

草履
Zouri

Post I found on ImmortalGeisha....

OK, don't ask me why I noticed. And you can just slap me if you want. But I noticed that your zori are being worn Western style. 

The toe thong [thong straps called hanao 鼻緒] should be more forward in the space between the two toes. Most people push it all the way back and is probably why so many find them soooo uncomfortable and tight. 

(User Chiisana Hato)

That's nice eh? The Japanese have footwear that is intentionally worn to have your feet hang over the edge. I wonder how that came to be?

Wikipedia says:

Like all Japanese sandals, zōri (草履) allow for free circulation of air around the feet, a feature that probably came about because of the humid climate that predominates throughout most of Japan. They are easily slipped on and off, which is important in a culture where shoes are constantly removed and put back on, and where tying shoelaces would be impractical in a tight kimono.

My guess is that it just became normal to not slip the whole sandal onto your feet. 

A bunch of people in the forum went on to say "but my feet hang over the edge too much, even more than normal Japanese hang over the edge amount!" I guess that is a common problem for larger non-Asian kimono enthusiasts. Thankfully Rakuten carries a large selection of them. Size "large" is about 23 cm long (shown below). That's enough for someone who is size 8, like me! (They carry zori up to 27 cm long, wow.)

(Source)

And then there are these! Little rain covers for your toesies!

(Source)

And I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally want something like these;

(Source)

And lastly, an interesting little tid-bit; the modern day flip-flop came directly from zouri being brought back by solders to the US after World War 2. (Maybe this is obvious to some people but before learning this I just thought that the footwear were similar simply because of coincidence).

Tabanenoshi Motif

I bought this beautiful fukuro obi from a used Japanese gifts sale.

Judging by the pink and white colours, I thought that this was specifically for a wedding furisode (but I bought it anyways cause its perrrdyy). I had also seen the tied paper motif on a wedding uchikake listed on Ichiroya a couple days earlier.

To find out if it was specifically a wedding obi, I looked up the motif. It's called tabane noshi.

 束ね熨斗

(tabanenoshi, lit=" bundle of strips")

ImmortalGeisha.com writes:

Tabane noshi were originally bundles of abalone used as religious offerings. Nowadays, paper representations of them are used as decorations during festivals or attached to gifts. Due to these associations tabane noshi is an auspicious motif.

Noshi also sounds like the Japanese word for '"expand" or "progress"... [and so] came to be an auspicious symbol of the continuation of the family line.'[1] Tabane noshi are a common motif in semori, "back protectors," charms embroidered onto the back of children's garments that lack a center seam to repel evil influences. [2]

Tabane noshi has no season in of itself. The strips of noshi usually contain other motifs, both geometric and floral. The motifs used are often also auspicious motifs like kiku or tsuru.

Although it doesn't say if it's specifically for weddings, a quick search on Ichiroya shows the motif on mostly wedding related items, like kurotomesode, metallic fukuro obis and bridal furisode kimonos, such as the one shown below.

 

 

 

Below shows a furisode with tabanenoshi dating back to the Edo Period (18th Century). This is from the Kyoto National Museum.

 

 

 

 

A tabane noshi kamon (Source).

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'll probably wear my obi to a wedding if I'm invited to one, but I think I'll be too self-conscious to wear it to anything else.

Kimono Dressing Class Photo

Here is the photo from my last kimono dressing class. OMG every one is so cute!! Sensei is the one in the blue kimono.

The komon kimono I'm wearing was purchased from Ichiroya. I don't really like the colours but it happened to be relatively cheap and, most importantly, bigger than usual. Even then, it still just barely fits me. (Why I am so infatuated with a garment that isn't supposed to fit me still baffles me.)

Iromuji Kimonos

Interesting post about Iromuji on the Ichiroya blog.

For example, something I didn't know:

"...a kimono with dyed mon in the back is more formal than iromuji with sewn mon. Dyed mon is more formal in general."

I recently purchased a custom iromuji from KimonoPoncho. It's a nice, deep purple, my favorite colour. It's huge! Just like I wanted, so now I have a kimono that actually fits me. But this means now I need to make an equivalent sized juban for it. I have a picture of it below but the lighting absolutely brutalized the colours.

 

If you happen to have a very un-Japanese sized body and are looking for a custom made kimono, I recommend you order from KimonoPoncho. Be prepared to pay $200 to $300 for it though (which, considering how expensive new custom kimonos are, is pretty standard).