Yes, the pictures are worth it. But girls, not again, not even for their weddings am I going to do this again!
The kids praying for good luck. (There are more photos for part 2)
Lots of little delight trinkets to tickle a little girl's heart. Reina had fun just taking things out and putting them back.
Remember what this obi belt looks like because you ain't gotta see it again. I forgot to pack it!
Reina and I had a jolly good time picking out her kimono pattern. It was on-line and I think she wanted to do it in person, but big price difference. It was far nicer than the ones they had at the photo studio so we were pleased. It is not silk though, but washable nylon! Some girls wear their mother's kimonos but reactions are mixed. Older silk ones are beautiful, but the colors are more subdued and old-fashion. Some girls prefer the brighter colored nylon ones while others are happy wearing family heirlooms costing around $1,000.
Faithful readers will know that Reina turned seven this year. And some have even bothered checking the wiki to know that according to Shinto beliefs, odd years are lucky and therefore the birth years of children 3-5-7 are considered special occasions. A visit to a Shinto shrine to receive blessings is a tradition. Wearing kimonos to visit shrines whether it's for the New Year, weddings, birth celebration or 3-5-7 is also a tradition.
A more recent phenomenon is taking portraits at a photo studio. There are studios dedicated children's portraits by offering free costume rental. Many girls like to dress in a fancy kimono, and then a fancy ball gown.
About half the time, the grandparents usually try to join in some part of this activity, though not always. (Pam and Neil, we know would!) As you have all seen, for Reina's third year and Rio's fifth, we did a studio photo shoot. My mother was in town and my mother-in-law joined us, but they wore plain western style suits. The protocol is that the grown ups either either wear traditional Japanese which then can be fancy, or you become part of the background by wearing plain navy blue. That's the style the grandmothers opted for. (A lot easier to manage.) Father-in-law opted out of the hoop-lah.
It's a long day for young children and we opted not to rent the kimonos to go to visit a shrine. Rio was howling for ice cream in a bad way at the end of the photo shoot. We had to skip the brother and sister pose. We had to eliminate the samurai warrior outfit that Hiroshi had wanted to wear himself. But in the end, everyone had a great time. And pictures for a life time.
Tradition for some reason states that boys only do it once. Don't know why exactly except that in modern Japan, after five, it's not that easy to coax Japanese boys to wear kimono.
Simple plan A was to get Reina all decked out at a studio, for the rest of us to wear plain suits, including Rio. Then we would all go to the shrine together because we didn't shrine it last time. You know me, gotta have a new something... And we would include our in-laws. If we went to a place near them, then they would come out with us.
But then Hiroshi declares he'll wear his Japanese wool and kimono (instead of fancy silk) in lieu of a suit. That is a bit different. Then Reina declares she really wants ALL of us to wear kimonos. This was around the same time I posted my blog and Pam's comment and my friend Nancy's e-mail swayed me. So charge on! We're all doing kimono.
Found out the place that we did our studio shots will charge us approximately $200 each to rent the kimonos for the day. They will also charge people for wearing their own kimonos rather than rent from them!
Whatever.
The place near my in-laws didn't charge people for bringing their stuff in. But still charged $250 to rent their kimono for the day. What worse, they didn't have kimonos for adults or for kids Rio's size. So we are going to all wear our own kimonos.
Reina's set was $300 online shopping. Including all the wrappings, fan, handbag, shoes not shown, etc. Rio's was much harder to find, because as I mentioned boys don't seem to wear kimonos over age 5. But finally one shop sold boys kimono for elementary school graduation. We picked the last blue boys over five kimono in Japan. With setta and tabi socks, his outfit was almost $300. Hiroshi is self-contained.
Then there was me. But the story stops here for now.
