No89


** Ohayogozaimasu, good morning from Japan.Firstly I apologize you--I have written this newsletter and meant to sendon Saturday night here but I goofed -- I forgot to switch to `send' from `test'that was why it was not sent to you.Domo sumimasen, here is the newsletter and I am really sorry for the delay.
Hello from Japan! This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News Letter No 89.Spring seems to have come at last. Today we turn off the air conditioner, and I am wearing only a shirt in our office. Sakura blossom front is coming up, and we will be able to see full blossom in several days. In front of our office magnolia are full blossom.
These days items which are offered at auctions seem to be less than ever. Especially these three months almost all auctions we attended didn't offer many kimono. Some kimono dealers say it snowed much in Tohoku district, so the ubudashiya ( kimono dealers who buy kimono from ordinary peole ) couldn't collect many because of heavy snow. But I am wondering there may be other reasons.
Kimono auctions are increasing, and we were invited to two new auctions near our district last half year. Auctions are ordinarily held every month, so if we go the auctions we will have 24 times auction ( chances to buy kimono) in a year. Auction is a place where we kimono seller exchange the kimono stocks each other.And at a time it is the place where we can buy kimono, which have first come to our market by ubudashiya. Kimono lovers may see the the former ones at someone's store or antique fair, and they are the goods left unsold. So we prefer the kimono offered by ubudashiya, and looking forward to see the new items from olden times. Everyone can not buy lots of kimono from ordinary people. Only some experienced major ubudashiya can collect enough kimono to earn for themselves. So when auctioneer begin the new auction, he must draw some ubudashiya from other auctions. It is very difficult to do so. If some ubudashiya dived their kimono to new auctions, kimono for the existing auctions must become less. For us, to collect enough kimono for our customers we will have to attend more auctions than ever.
My mother was born in 1930 ( Showa 5), and she was 15 years old when WWII ended.Just after the WWII, lives were very tough and couldn't afford gorgeous kimono. So my mother couldn't wear magnificent furisode, when she had to want. When we started our business, she showed us her kimono, but what she has are the comparatively new one, and most of them are tsumugi. My grand mother( mother of my father ) passed away when I was 28 years old, and she was born in 1909 ( Meiji 42). Now I feel it is indeed regrettable that I didn't hear much about her adolescence and life. She reached a marriageable age in early Showa period(Showa:1926-1989) before WWII, and had to enjoy fashionable atmosphere of that time. My mother has several kimono from grand mother, but they are the kimono she wore at her old age. I don't know where her kimono have gone. I assume she might sell them when our family had economic grievances after WWII. If my grand mother lived now, she was nearly 100 years old. So the most kimono of her generation must be handed to their daughters, who are also nearly 80 years old. Old kimono often come to our market, when the owner died. Recently the kimono of ubudashiya become comparatively new according to the former owner's age. Anyway we can not expect more volume of vintage kimono from ubudashiya.
About kasuri and other old fabrics, which are popular for handicraft materials, is becoming less and less. Because they are consumed ( cut and sewn). When we started our business, Bingo kasuri bolt was very cheap. Bingo Kasuri is machine woven, and has stiff touch compared to hand woven kasuri. But nowadays the price of Bingo kasuri bolt rise to double compared to two years ago. I think this kind of vintage fabrics will become less and less, and price will rise constantly in furture. Today I will attend an auction in Kobe. We wish we get many vintage kimono and fabrics there!
*** We have added some yukata recently, which had no yukata obi attached.We added new arrivals including yukata obis. We hope the customers who are interested in yukata or who already placed the order of yukata but needs obi can take a look at our new arrival yukata obi, domo arigato gozaimasu.
****In our last newsletter, I mentioned about the folktale `Tsuruno Ongaeshi', (Crane's Story)Ms Elizabeth Falconer who is a fantastic Koto master is telling this story along with her koto music. The story is told beautifully inEnglish, with her enchanting koto music--we thought her CD really tells　the essence of this sad yet beautiful story.Crane's Story is available here: http://www.kotoworld.com/
Thank you very much for reading to the end.We wish you a pleasant new week--dozo sutekina issyukano!
Ichiro & Yuka WadaKimono Flea Market "ICHIROYA"http://www.ichiroya.com/
e-mail: info@ichiroya.comaddress: Asia-shoji Bldg.301 1841-1 Nishi 1 chome Wakamatsu cho Tondabayashi city Osaka 584-0025 JAPANTEL&FAX ****( international number ) - 81-721-23-5446