How to put on an obi

This is a very nice Youtube video of a women tying an obi.

The Blue Lotus Okiya

This morning, I received an invite to a geisha performance at the Blue Lotus Okiya [The Blue Lotus Okiya, Marito Island (71, 73, 30)] from Cherry Tokyo . I gladly accepted her invitation because I had never attended a geisha performance longer than ten minutes before needing to exit to attend to give the real world some necessary attention.

When I arrived the performance was already in process. and I was greeted by one of the geishas.

I took an open seat at the table close to the stage with Cherry Tokyo, Caliah Lyon, and Stephan Bentham.

Cherry was eating a meal that looked great, so I decided to order something also. I selected a grilled fish and hot tea. I was also checking out Cherry's kimono (lol, it is after all what I do-blog about kimonos!). She was wearing the Leaves Kimono. It is a sage green kimono with a soft yellow, green and white floral pattern (flexi). You have to see this kimono to appreciate the floral detail in the kimono and obi, very feminine.

The performance was wonderful. The geisha's danced, played music, and read for us.

The geisha dances were well choreographed, and the particle fan help make the performance feel even more magical.

For their final performance, they danced together.

The performing Blue Lotus Geisha were:

Maiko LiliAnna Carter, Jr. Geiko Milido Yoshikawa, Maiko Kyoko Mikita, and Geisha Marianna Barbosa.

This was a really great performance, and I would love to attend more performances. If you like Geisha performances or if it will be your first time, please stop by the Blue Lotus Okiya, they are very nice and you will enjoy the music and performance. *smiles

Shop talk:

All the performers wore the Snowflake Kimono from Cherry Tokyo's Kimonos (see sidebar for link to Cherry Tokyo's blog and additional information). The Snowflake kimono costs 400L (2 prim collar options, 3 sleeve option, fleximotion obi). The Particle Dancing fans cost 300L and offer 2 different color choices.

The Japanese Goods Shop-Giorno Brando

Well, my recent kimono shopping in Second Life has lead me to a little place in the Semple Truth Sim. The sim is an Asian-themed sim, with a shopping mall, Geisha Tea House, and if you explore beyond that there is a peaceful country-side where there is a huge Buddah statue or shrine (again very peaceful).

Most of the shops in the mall are scaled-down versions of many of the shop owners main shops and many will offer to teleport you to their main shop or give you a land mark to their other shops. Cherry Tokyo has a shop there (see previous post). I found my Geisha hair there (me sings "I love it")!

I perused through the area and found a shop that had kimonos that caught my eye (price and style!). The name of the shop is the Japanese Goods Shop, and is owned by Giorno Brando.
The pictures and prices of the kimono were very nice (free-200L). I purchased the Black Autumn Kimono and the Free Kimono. Then proceeded to do my normal routine of: taking pictures of the shop, and head home for more shots! lol!

Black Autumn Kimono

Ahh back home! I put on the Black Autumn Kimono (200L). This purchase included 2 collar styles, tabi, and zouri. Please feel free to click on a picture to see a larger image for detail purposes.





A close up shot to show the floral pattern detail at the bottom of the kimono and the sleeves
A back view of the kimono and obi

The colors of this kimono were beautiful and most notable to me was the obi tie and the floral detail. I enjoy clothing w/detail. I was pleased with this kimono.

Well, due to a computer problem, I lost the pictures that I took at the Semple Truth sim (frowns). So, I searched for more information on this vendor and find out that he has two other places. I teleport to the Mukuhari Location first [Giorno Brando, Makuhari (240, 194, 22)], then over to the Havelock location through a teleport located at the Mukuhari site [JAPANESE GOODS SHOP, Havelock (224, 134, 191)] Havelock Shrine.

The women's line of clothing. Price range from zero to 200 Lindens.

Men, this store has something for you too (see picture above)! The price range is the same as for the ladies (zero to 200 Lindens). GB has a few other accessories and goods in his store.

Rafael and I trying on our outfits at home.

The Free Kimono

This is the free Kimono that GB offers in his Japanese Goods Shop

At Majestic Dreams

At Antiquity Cove

Front view of Obi

Back view of the obi.

Artesia wearing free kimono at Antiquity Cove

Trying the black and white effect of a shot using the Midnight view.

Trying out my new Geisha AO. I love it! *Smiles

If you go to the shrine location,pull the rope at the shrine, then-Watch Out! lol (you will know what I mean!)!

This post has many pictures in it, but I wanted to give you a the details involved in kimono making as well as how the kimono will actually look in Second Life. I will add these and other pics to my flickr site soon.

Japanese Royal Kimono Dressing

This is a Youtube video by TokyoDV of Japanese Royal Kimono dressing with music.

Hada-Juban

The Hada-Juban is an the first article clothing when wearing a formal kimono.

Front view of the woman hadajuban (retrieved from: 3yen)

Front View of Male Hada-Juban (retrieved from: Gai-jin Kekkonshiki)

Hada means skin. The Hada-Juban is made of 100% cotton. It helps to keep the kimono from getting soiled. Augberginefluer provides the following advice for wearing Hada-Juban under Yakata in her blog "Japan Now & Then":

1) One-Piece Hada-Juban for Yukata

This is worn over your underwear to prevent the yukata from sticking to your skin, and though I went years without bothering to wear one, it is much cooler if you do. The best is a 100% percent cotton or linen full body shift. Avoid ones with a polyester skirt. Sales assistants will try to talk you into a large size if you are a gaijin to move the merchandise, but unless you are large, get the medium because the extra material of the skirt will make it hard to walk because it tangles around your legs. Appropriate underwear is a sports bra and panties for a woman and V-neck T-shirt and boxers for a man; men do not need a hada-juban.

The photos below are of the front and back of the Hada-Juban taken retrieved from Japanese Lifestyle).

Sites of interest:

Japan Then & Now

Japanese Lifestyle

Gai-jin Kekkonshiki

Geisha Hakutsuru

Geisha Hakutsuru
Originally uploaded by Siyu Suen

When I saw this picture posted by Siyu Suen on Flickr, I had to ask her if I could post it in my blog. *smiles (I am glad she gave her approval!)

She is wearing the Geisha Hakutsuru from Bare Rose. I included her post (below) because I thought it was a great description of what she thought about Geisha, how she obtained the shot, and she credits where she purchased or obtained most of the items she is wearing (outfit, skin, hair, eyes, and parasol).

Siyu Suen's Flickr comments about her Geisha Hakutsuru photo shoot:

Some of the most beautiful pictures I've ever gotten from a photoshoot., these
make me feel like no matter what, even if you don't think you're improving you
are.This, to me, is the epitome of Geisha. Not that I'm exactly an expert on
them, but when I think of them I see beauty, extreme modesty, and grace. And
this picture more than embodies all of that.When I first uploaded this, I didn't
realized that there were some serious mesh glitches, squares of strange shadow.
and in general odd things going on with the glow, so I deleted it the post and
went back to photoshop to fix them. I used clone stamp, blurring to get rid of
edges around the glow, liquify to fix the sleeve, smudging to fix the dress etc
etc. Lots of plastic surgery. It was worth it though, to save such a beautiful
capture.Selos Dae's magnificent geisha skin and Helyanwe Vindaloo's beautiful
new "Lovely" hair inspired this photoshoot... I was gallavanting as a pirate
until Hely sent out the fashcon notice announcing the hair... and then these
pictures had to be taken.

Kimono: Hakutsuru by Barerose

Parasol: Rumi "Red" from Nagaya "Little Tokyo" (freebie!)

Skin: "Geisha Curvy Fish" by Selos Dae of TRAP

Hair: "Lovely" (retextured) by Deviant Kitties

Eyes: "Indigo Glow" by Miriel

Please stop by her Flickr site to see this and other beautiful pictures she has posted at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/siyusuen/.

I was curious about what the word "Hakutsuru" means. After much searching, I found that Hakutsuru means "white crane". The word Hakutsuru is used in many ways; it a popular brand of sake, used in martial arts, used as a business name (or logo), and used in apparel designs.

Geisha Hakutsuru-More Pics

Here are couple of additional pics of Siyu Suen in the Geisha Hakutsuru outfit from Bare Rose.

I finally figured out how to combine the pictures into one post.