So long, and thanks for all the fish.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Even though my business has been a success and has been very fun I am sad to announce I am going to close it down. This parting is bitter sweet. Ohio Kimono has been a major part of my life for many years now, and it’s not something to easily step away from.

 I am too busy to run Ohio Kimono bcause I have graduated college and have found a great job and am very happy in my career.

 My life has moved forward, and I’m a Business Pofessional. ANIMARATHON will be my LAST Con! At animarathon I am LIQUIDATING my stock at GREATLY REDUCED prices! Everything will be on sale – kimono, obi, tea sets, and more!  Kimono will start as low as $20!!! Nothing will be priced over $50! I’m just looking to recover my costs and investment in my current stock, not make a profit. SEE YOU AT ANIMARATHON!

 I still love Kimono, Geisha, and Japanese history and will continue to do discussions and some events from time to time.

Volunteer group gathers kimonos for coming-of-age ceremony in tsunami-hit area (news)

In the news….

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111211p2a00m0na002000c.html

Volunteer group gathers kimonos for coming-of-age ceremony in tsunami-hit area

ISHINOMAKI, Miyagi — A volunteer organization in the Tokyo metropolitan area is offering a helping hand to people in a tsunami-hit district here by collecting unused kimonos to lend to women taking part in next month’s coming-of-age ceremony.

The organization, Jinrikitai, will provide the long-sleeved kimonos to women in the Ogatsu district of Ishinomaki. It is also seeking volunteers to help style the hair of ceremony participants, and calling on people to “celebrate the start of the new lives of the people who are coming of age, who will play an important part in restoration.”

SCA – Monochrome Momoyama Era Style Scrolls

For our annual Christmas Party (aka Yule Feast) I wanted to offer some gifts to those who attended my tea tasting and history class. So, I teamed up with a local artist who is also in the SCA and created these… I did the research, she did the epic art. The artist herself did great work and Im honored to have been able to make use of her fantastic talents.

*Hand made paper
*The themes in each painting is specifically tailored to a historical poem from pre-edo
*The themes and poems are tailored to a winter tea tasting
*The painting are in the sume monochrome style made popular in the momoyama.
*The scrolls themselves are not period in style..just in spirit.

The primary themes in the paintings are….
*Hares *The Moon *Plovers *Bamboo *Pine – all of which are December / winter themes

And so I present…the mini scrolls:

Maiko and Geisha have a meal with Santa

I can’t tell to be 100% certain, but I think I have a maiko as a facebook friend….
Anyways, she just posted another series of photos of herself and it included this charming picture: Tis the Season!

PS – TAG Con was a blast!

Large version of this image:

http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/5696/maikosanta.jpg

TAG Con – Dec 3rd, 2011

I will be at TAG Con! I will be having an overstock clearance bin! Another year has come and gone, and its time for me to clear out old inventory and overstock in preperation for a new year!

When: Dec 3rd, 2011
Where: Owen’s community College, exact location is on the website with a map
More info at: http://glasscitycon.com/tagfest/info.html

PS – Hope you had a good ThanksGiving! Also, this is my 200th post to the blog

Fall Kimono Shoot – Kat

The last bits of fall are here and quickly passing. So Kat and I headed out to shoot for the last time in 2011. It’s amazing how fast 2011 has gone by, and how fun it has been. In the photos the obi Kat is wear she bought from me, the kimono she got at a ‘kimono swap meet’ we had earlier this year.

Christmas is around the corner – Im hoping to do a few Christmas sales at the upcoming TAG con.

Please remember this Halloween…

Halloween is here, and so are the many bad costumes are are culturally insensitive and frankly ignorant. I saw this and wanted to share it…

Please do not support culturally oriented Halloween costumes. Most are horrible at best. Use your costuming as a great chance to learn more about other cultures, and expand your knowledge.