Past Issues of Ichiroya News Letters

No57 -3 May 2004

Hello from Japan! This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA'S News Letter No 57. We are in the midst of `GoldenWeek', the spring holidays started from Apr 29 and end on May 5(Children's Day). You may think we are workaholic and do not take so many holidays. The reason we did not take holidays this time is, the monthly auctions. They are held on the certain date no matter what days they are...we did not want to miss the auctions which are held as usual during this weekend, so we decided we postpone our own holidays until summer. During this Golden Week, many people took a trip overseas or in Japan. However not everyone could take a long holidays but there are many people who could only take a couple of days or even one day off. We would like to introduce the most popular place people visit recently. It is called `Food Theme Park'. Popular Japanese food like `ra-men'(noodles) or sushi are loved by everyone and `Food Theme Park' is where many restaurants gathered ( with one theme -like ra-men or gyoza ) in one place and the whole place look like a part of town or city. Here is one of the famous Food Theme Park called `Men darake' in Osaka.(`Men' is noodle and darake means `all over'! ) http://www.namco.co.jp/ftp/mendarake/shop/ You can see their eye-catching dish of each restaurants by clicking each corner. 2 million people visited this place in the past 6 months and many of them are repeated customers. The company who started this project is watching how much each restaurant sell--and give them advice. Customers can vote and also write guest questionnaire --and the restaurants who did not sell very well are replaced by another new restaurants. The restaurants are from all over Japan, so you can try the ra-men of the famous local restaurants --not only one but as much as you want. There are other food like, gyoza or sweets too and the famous food theme park called `sweets forest" is always crowded by sweet tooth who enjoy delicious sweets from all over Japan. The other food them parks are: Gyoza stadium Ramen village Ramen street Ramen complex Sushi museum and so on. When some of these 'Food Theme Park' opened, some marketing people(include me) thought it was difficult to run these part for long time. Because if there were only one kind of food, and most of them were low price, such parks had not to be able to get constant marquee and enough sales volume. I also thought the 'Ramen Park' had to fall to the ground, but the reality comes different. If you have a chance to come to Japan, we would like to advise to visit these food theme park.

No56 -26 April 2004

Hello from Japan! This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA'S News Letter No.56. Here in Japan, Golden Week holidays are coming. This year it begins on May 1 and ends May 5. For many people, Golden Week Holidays of this year has five holidays. Our website store will be open during these holidays except Sunday (May 2). Some of our staffs are going to take holidays, so the listing items may be less than usual, but we will list and ship the items as usual. We are going to take two long holidays in August and New Year Week, but we are going not to close our shop in other terms. Always I(Ichiro) say to staffs that we are the retailer, so it is usual that retailers work when other people take holidays. My family is familiar with it for a long time. Because I had been worked for Daimaru Department Store, so I rarely could take day off from work at Sunday and national holidays. We thank for we can take off on Sunday now. Yesterday I attended one of the most famous and oldest kimono auction in Kyoto ( 'Kogirekai') . Fortunately I got some rare pieces, and we will list them this week. There are some famous kimono auctions, and Kogirekai is the most famous because lots of antique kimono and kimono fabrics are offered every month. 'Ko-gire' means ' Old-fabrics', and sales most in Japan. Old and valuable items are pouring from all corners of Japan to Kogirekai, and almost all antique kimono fabric dealers attend and bid at Kogirekai. If I write some topics for the readers about the auctions, - Meisen kimono with rare design (and in excellent condition) were very high ( I saw the one sold at 3000 yen at contract price a few months ago! ), but the prices are becoming moderate than before. - Chirimen (crepe) kimono is very expensive, and the price is rising even now. Some antique fabrics like 'Sarasa Cotton' become under 1/2 compared with the prices of during the years of the asset-inflated economy. You must be astonished if you see the very small 'Edo Chirimen Fabrics' are bided more than several dollars. Yesterday I saw one chirimen juban was bided up to $3,700. Winner sell their chirimen fabrics to kimono doll maker(designer). Making kimono doll with vintage chirimen silk is the very gracious and expensive hobby of rich women here in Japan. And they cut the chirimen kimono for their dolls, vintage chirimen kimono is reducing. Now the chirimen kimono become very less, and too expensive, kimono doll maker become to buy 'kinsha'(more fine crepe silk) chirimen, and kinsha kimono with small and colorful pattern are also becoming expensive. -Younger bidders are increasing. First generation of vintage kimono sellers become nearly 55-60 years old, and their daughters become adults. They can feel what young customers likes and wants, and have fresh sense of kimono wearing. They sometimes bid higher than the first generation's bid, and astonish them. Young generation tends to select kimono with only design and condition, and they sell them with unique and fantastic coordinations, which the first generation can not do. Really it is young generation who rediscover the beauty of meisen kimono. Old generation always say ' There was no one who wanted meisen in old days. We could buy bundles of meisen at only a few thousands yen! I had better buy and keep them! ' - Vintage and used kimono retailers/dealers are increasing. Vintage kimono auctions are also increasing all over in Japan. Reasons of increasing are : 1)Other antique items like china, tansu, kakejiku and others are not good sale because of the long depression. I presume the customers of these antique items are men ordinarily, and men must cut their budget for their hobby at first. So the antique dealers who didn't sell kimono come to deal kimono for their lives. 2)For the depression all used-items market like book, CD, golf club, car, house and so one are expanding. Many people become to think used items are also good if the prices become very reasonable only because the items are used by other persons. 3)Internet Auction become very popular, and selling used items through internet become very familiar to the ordinary young people. Like e-bay auction in USA and English-speaking world, Yahoo Japan auction is recording highest sales each year. 4)Young people are rediscovering the vintage kimono style as unique and cool fashions. Especially in Tokyo, we can see girls and young women in kimono more often than before. They ignore the traditional kimono wearing rules, and enjoy their creative wearing. One famous kimono seller says that kimono wearing is 'healing cosplay' for young people, and I think I agree this idea. Tomorrow I am going to attend kimono auction in Okayama. I must drive three - four hours also tomorrow. Auctioneer of Okayama auction is my mentor. It is not so big auction, only 25-30 bidders attend every month. On the same day one of the big auction in Kyoto is hold, so most of the major dealers go to Kyoto. But I find that the prices are less expensive than other auctions ( because the major bidders don't come), and sometimes the very rare items are sold, which are from that rural district. And on 28 I must attend a auction in Kanie, and it is even farther than Okayama. Every moths I am very busy attending the auctions, I must attend 5 in last ten days of the every month. I will get more valuable items at these auctions also this month! The weather became perfect for fishing today----but I have a strong will and will go to auctions:-) Don't miss it!

No55 -19 April 2004

Hello from Japan! This is Ichiro, from Kimono Flea Market Ichiroya. Here in Japan, it is getting warmer and warmer, and we almost need to turn on the air conditioner of our office. After Yuka Yoshikawa san joined us, one young man joined us a week ago. He is 21 years old, and is trying to be the professional drummer. When I talked with him and heard his goal-through phone,We imagined he might has blonde dyed long hair, wears splashily and put on many silver accessesories as a rock star. But now we surname him as 'kuma'(bear). As present his hair is black, and no silver accessoriesin his face or hands, and he is running everyday to reduce his weight. He is the only male in our staffs, and knows much about the computer. He will be the great help when- I (Ichiro) am out for buying. Besides him, Yukari-chan is the actress in the bud. A week later her drama group is going to give a public performance, and she takes a week off to prepare the performance. Yuka Yoshikawa ! san wants to be a book editor,and goes to editor's school a few times a week. Working with them who have their dreams is great joy to us. Today I would like to write about Japanese characters. If you get some information about it, it would help you to get some information from the lapels. Someone may think it is incredible, but Japanese has three kinds of characters. It is just like you write text with three kinds of alphabets. So the text is the mix of three kinds of characters. 'Hiragana' and 'Katakana' have 50 characters each, which mean the pronunciation. All Japanesese pronunciation can be written with Hiragana or Katakana. ( But its total number is 100! Too many than 26 alphabet! ) Hiragana http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2047.html http://members.aol.com/writejapan/hiragana/writutor.htm Katakana http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2048.html http://members.aol.com/writejapan/katakana/writutor.htm Hiragana and Katakana have different origins, and now we use Katakana mainly for the words of foreign origin. For example, 'polyester' and 'rayon' has foreign origin, so the they are written in Katakana. And if we write your name in Japanese, we use katakana because of the same reason. We often see the 'polyester' in the lapels, knowing its character will help you to know the textile. Here is the katakana character examples. ( You can write your name in katakana like the examples. ) http://www.ichiroya.com/others/kanji/Japanesecharacter.htm We have another characters 'Kanji'. It has origin in Chinese, and there remains many similarity between them. Pronunciation of Japanese and Chinese are different totally. Japanese and Chinese can not speak each other in their native language, but we may be able to communicate by means of kanji writing. http://www.joyo96.org/Grade_1.html Fantastically kanji character is picture writing, and each kanji has a meaning. For examples, kanji of 'one' ' two' ' three' are written only the horizontal lines of their numbers. Here is the kanji character of 'ki', which means tree. Do you think its shape is similar with real tree? And if we arrange the two 'ki', it become 'hayashi', which means grove, and if we add one more 'ki' on it, it becomes 'mori', which means forest. How easy it is! http://www.ichiroya.com/others/kanji/Japanesecharacter.htm But some of the kanji characters have intricate shape and meanings. For examples, here is the kanji characters about textiles. 'Ito' (thread) has the shape of the spun threads, and 'kinu'(silk) and 'ori'(weave) 'shibori' have 'ito' in its parts. We can not explain the all kanji character's origin here, but please imagine the meaning from its shape. Mostly it will be the right. http://www.ichiroya.com/others/kanji/Japanesecharacter.htm When we write Japanese, we ordinarily write kanji ( if the kanji character exist, and fortunately we remember it. Total number of kanji said to be more than 50000! At the elementary school and junior high school we learn 1945, which thought to be minimum kanji for ordinary life. ), and katakana for foreign origin words, and we use hiragana for the rest parts. My Japanese teacher at high school said Japanese was cockamamie words! Do you agree it? To close this news letter, I will mention about our name. My name is Wada Ichiro and our family name Wada is quite popular name. Wada is written by two kanji characters. `Wa' means peace or harmony and `da(ta)' is rice pond. Actually there are many names with `da(ta)'. Yuka's maiden name is Sugino and `sugi' is cedar and `no' is field. It is always a big job for parents to decide their children's name and they contemplate and choose a kanji carefully for their children.

No54 -12 April 2004

We are very relieved to hear that three Japanese hostages will be released within 24 hours. We would like to thank you very much for your warm messages about hostage crisis. We are anxious for the three people to come back to their families as soon as possible and so are other hostages--they should be released immediately. Thank you for the many replies to the previous news letter. I should add GREAT THANKS at the end of our story. As we dared to start our business, we had to create many inconvenience for customers.For examples, we couldn't accept PAYPAL, we couldn't offer enough variety of kimono, shopping cart system was not convenient, and we didn't have search systems.　Fortunately we received a lot of advice from you, and we could add some improvement to　the systems and line of items. Always we thank you very much for your attention and advices,which made us improving our work. Now we are planning to improve our systems by the middle of May. We will arrange the category, and make 'Folkcraft' category, which contains vintage cotton, kasuri, 'asa'(Japanese hemp), tsutsugaki, sakiori and so on. Now above items are scattered in the several categories, and we notice that it is very inconvenient for the customers. We are also going to fix the shopping cart ( we will make alive th! e links of items you bought, and make system to correspond the simultaneous orders). We are going to renew more systems for the improve the efficiency. We are very happy if we could offer more convenient shopping experience by this renewal. I would like to write one more theme - safety. We have been using 'Kenshinki' ( a metal sensor). All kimono are slide through this sensor to check to see if there is no needles left inside the kimono. Uni san who is in charge of packing make all the kimono go through this sensor before shipping the kimono. Sometimes the machine peeps, and Uni san searches the needles in the kimono. Because kimono are hand sewn, sometimes sewers leave the needles inside of kimono by mistake. We never want to send a kimono which has needle in side which may cause a harm to our customers. Some kimono or obi are thick(like uchikake or maru obi) and it is hard to feel the the needles beyond the thick textile. We hear the peep sound but sometimes it takes quite a long time to feel and take out the needles. On the small paper Uni san put the needles which she found as boots. She finds a needle almost every three days. She is very good at taking out the needles carefully. The most important thing on e-commerce should be the safety of each customer's information. We are taking great care in keeping customer's private information. We are under contract with most major card processing company 'Zeus'. They are the almost only company in Japan, who has original secure card processing system, and they also wholesale their systems to other processing company. Because of their secure system, we can charge through the credit card without knowing the full card number of the customers. There are some cases we have to ask for the whole numbers of the credit card from customers, but we take great care to keep the information - Our server is the exclusive use, and no one can intrude our server, because administration zone can be accessed only our office IP address. About the information on the papers, we keep it in the firm coffer. Coffers and our office are monitored by Secom Co., Ltd.(No1 Security Firm in Japan), and also all my portfolio are in there. I would like to let you know one more matter. We incorporated ICHIROYA as a private limited company in December 2003. Thank again for your help and advice and shopping from us again. We would like to do our very best to continue offering more cheerful, convenient and safe shopping experience.

No53 -5 April 2004

It is really warm these days, and I sometimes imagine how is the valleies, I used to go fishing until three years ago. When I was a office worker of department store, I was crazy at fishing, and almost every holiday I went fishing to the valleis and lakes leaving Yuka and daughters at home. I was a workaholic, and took only a holiday during two weeks for long time. But the reason I had to become crazy at fishing was not because of my hard work, but it may be because I didn't like my work from bottom of my heart. I would like to write the reason and way we had started our business. As some customers already know I had worked for Daimaru department store for 19 years. I have got many know-how of the retail and management through the career.In some years I really enjoyed my work, and works of some years were very difficult for me. When I was a fashion promotion staff during last three years of my carrier, to be honest I coudn't enjoy my work. I didn't have interested in the young women's fashin, but I had to discuss the fashion trends of the next season . Whether the skirt length will become longer or shorter ? What color wil be IN next autmn-winter seaon? Such discussions with younger staffs were fatigue for me, though I knowed it was very very important for the fashion business. I prefer the items, which are made by artisan than industrial pruducts. Of course the main works at department store is selling the industry products. But when I was a manager of Japanese table ware division, or the manager of the sales promotion planning team, I sometimes had chances to sell crafts. I often visited arisans, and heard their explanations, looked their incredibly skilled technique and admired them. Crafts inspired with the artisan's spirits moved my heart, and selling the hand-maded merchandises seemed to be very valuable for me. If I continued to work for the department store, I knowed that I had to take more distance from the crafts, and I had to continue to pay attention to the girl's current fashions. I didn't have the confidence to do well, and first of all I couldn't like it. There was another reason. The company begun to strengthen the centralized management, the occasions were increasing, which I had to order my staffs to do what I could not believe good. I did have the confidence that I could keep working for the company until age limit, and get decent wages and posts ( even not No1). I was wondering wheter I should live in safe with doing what I didn't really like or I should start my own business betting all our life. Finally I quitted my job.I was 45 years old, married and have two daughters. I hoped to do some works which related to crafts, but Ｉdidn't have the practical idea and plans. Already I had worked nearly 20 years for the department store, so fiends, coleage and parents were all worried about me and our family. In the whole world, Yuka was the only person who believed I could do my own company. Afterwards I came to know it is because she is always too babe in the woods, but her approval cheered me up greatly. I retired before the plan about the new work was fixed, so we wondered what and how to start our business for a quite long time. The company gave me the retirement payment, but of course it was not enough to make gorgeous store. We never could mistake for our daughters. At first we planned to make a shop to sell the ethnic items. I planned to sell the hand crafts from Indonesia and other Asian countries. We found a vacant store between our home and downtown, which seems to fit our plan. It is located near the railway station and department store, and has very high ceiling, which would allow the bold fabric display. Really we almost made a deposite on the store. But I felt slightly uneasy, and I sheduled the meeting with the public management consultant on the morning of the contract day. The consultant heard my presentation, and said ' You must fail. Stop the contract.' As he said, we were too vague about our items and customers. And we were going to put in too much desperately. We returned to the starting point again. I had to have restless days one more month. I prepared to work hard, but I didn't know what I should do. It was more tought situation than hand working days of my career. Finally I prepeared myself for starting small business even from the roadside stand. One day I visited a large temple market with Yuka. I wanted to get some idea of the items and low cost selling method. I already know kimono as craft, but at that temple market we came across the vintage kimono in the true sense of the term. For our eyes ordinary vintage kurotomesode looks very great! What a fantasitic artisan's work it is! And the prices were very cheep compaired with its valuable hand work. We convinced that we could sell vintage kimono to all over the world through internet. Yuka insisted on doing vintage kimono business, and I agreed. We ran to the bank, and withdrew 50000 yen, and bought kimono as much as we could. I brought the kimono to my mother Michiko, and asked her their textiles, technique and age. Michiko had sewn kimono for long years and has rich knowledge of kimono. We listed them in e-bay auction, and they are sold imediately! Our business started this way three years ago. And now I really love my work and my life.

No52 -29 March 2004

Hello from Japan! This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News Letter No53. It was blessed with a fine weather today. Cherry blossoms around here started blooming with the bright and warm sunshine. We must admit we are all crazy about cherry blossoms--they are not just one of the spring flowers but they seem to bring us a very special moment of the year and everyone has some sweet memories with cherry blossoms. Ichiro said he remembers his mother's black haori she was wearing for his entrance ceremony of elementary schools with cherry blossoms. I too have a photo with my mother on my entrance ceremony of elementary school--she is wearing a black haori over a pastel color semi-formal kimono. Most of mothers were wearing black haori to attend school ceremonies. The entrance ceremonies of most of schools are around first week of April. When children became six years old, they enter local elementary schools(some children go to private schools). Randoseru(school bag) are prepared by the children's parents or grand parents. http://www.aeonshop.com/aeon/randsel/ We can see the little new students in a little bigger uniform and a shiny randoseru on the back in April and they make us smile and remind us of our childhood. Almost all schools have cherry trees in the yard or around the entrance. These places become a cherry blossom viewing spot sometimes. You may be surprised to find flood of information relating to cherry blossoms during this season. If you search with the word `Ohanami'(flower viewing), there are many website telling the locations and the condition of the flowers--in details. A big park as Osaka castle park or other famous places are crowded with people but not only those places but local places as elementary school yard or small parks in the neighborhood also can be a very nice spot to see cherry blossoms. I have read an essay on the news paper. It was written by a career woman of a big company. She wrote, she used to find excuse for not going to see cherry blossoms, she thought she was too busy for it. But she realized if she has 30 years more to live, there is only 30 times she can see these blooming sakura(cherry blossoms). When she thought the sakura of this year is one of the 30 times, she felt she should never miss any of them and made up her mind to go to see sakura every year no matter how busy she was. You may think sakura is only one of the beautiful spring flowers and nothing more but seeing sakura each year may mean a great gift of hope of another new year for us. Another person was writing somewhere -- she was walking a dog along the path with cherry trees full of blossoms, Suddenly strong wind blew and all the petals swirled down and she was standing in the falling petals. She thought she was dreaming. Some other people there also were just standing there --and they were just stunned and felt like they were taken into heaven. They bloom and go so quickly. Their life is so brief. We seem to love the transient beauty. The way they go seems to appeal to our hearts so much. *********************************************************************** A president of one company told me once, the kind of person he wants to hire most is a person who can take a best spot of cherry blossom viewing for him. He must have been joking but it is true in a way. The new workers of the companies may be asked to save some space for the people of the companies under nice cherry trees. Here are the picnic food to bring: http://www.iwataya.co.jp/special/hanami/ http://season.biglobe.ne.jp/sakura/bentou/index.html We really wish you were here and go to picnic with us! http://www.hpmix.com/home/ts80873a/A7_8.htm#16

No51 -22 March 2004

Hello from Japan! This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News Letter No . Here in Osaka it was rainy today, but spring seems to come finally. Near our office magnolias are in full bloom now. I found that magnolia is the state flower of Louisiana and Mississippi in USA, and I imagine how beautiful they are if lots of magnolia are fully blooming. Our country flower 'sakura'(cherry blossom) is in full bloom in the southern district of Japan. Here is the map of the cherry blossom front. Osaka is in the middle of Japan, and we must wait a few weeks to see the sakura flowers. http://www.wni.co.jp/cww/docs/sakura/ We cannot see real cherry blossoms here yet but cherry blossom motif kimono is just in season. The beauty of cherry blossoms dyed in kimono also is just gorgeous --we wish we have one now but we are sorry the ones we had are all gone now. You know fashion is always a little ahead of the season and so are the Kimono motifs. It is said 'iki'(stylish) if you wear the sakura motif when people are just looking forward its bloom. If you attend the party with full of cherry blossom motif kimono right now, you must be the No1 dresser at the party and people will admire your fashion sense. But there is not so many sakura motif kimono, because it is extravagant dress. Because the bloom of the cherry blossom is very impressive, so kimono with cherry blossom motifs limits the time to be worn. That is why you often see cherry blossoms together with autumn flowers or maple leaves, which enable the kimono to be worn both in spring and autumn. Spring and autumn is the wedding season also--that also is one of the reason why the flower motifs of the both seasons are often seen in the same kimono. Sakura have been loved deeply by Japanese. From Heian period (794-1192), people have loved sakura, planted and breeded. In Edo period there said to be 200-250 cultivars, and they had been motifs of crafts and arts. Cherry blossom burst out, and fall soon, and it move the spirits of Japanese from older times. 'Monono-aware' is the word to express the 'feeling of sorrow', which we feel to see the falling sakura. It is the allegory of graciousness and manliness for Japanese. Sometimes the sakura-spirit were used to force the soldier(or samurai) go dying boldly. When we think of sakura we think of fleetingness of life . Bursting and falling sakura bring up the images of ---- * Entrance ceremony of school, with mother in black Haori. * Graduation, separation from friends. ( Entrance and graduation are in the April in Japan) * 'Ohanami'( cherry blossom viewing party ). Under the cherry blossom tree, on the straw mat, many drunks and horn-pipes. * Samurai harakiri scene, Kamikaze pilots are waiting suicide sally, ( from movies). If you were a fresh recruit, you had to get a good spot for cherry-blossom viewing party for your company members. To get the good spot, you must be smart. You may had to camp out in a park to get a good spot, or you have to have special ability to cut in the crowded space without troubles. Anyway if you come to Japan in spring, we would like to recommend you to stay in cherry blossom season. I wrote about sento in the previous newsletter. You may be able to soak in the out door hot spring with receiving the falling petals of cherry blossom. For the flowers lover, I would like to write more about sakura. It is said that there are approx 100-200 cultivars of sakura here in Japan. But approx 80-90% sakura is one cultivar , Somei-yoshino. http://www.pref.ishikawa.jp/ringyo/sakura/data/someiyosino.htm This cultivar was the result of a mutation in Edo period (1603-1867). Someiyoshino became very popular, and in long time someiyoshino have been planted all over Japan. Somei-yoshino was planted also in Potomac Park in Washington. Someiyoshino don't breed, so all somei-yoshino grow from from cuttings or separating the roots. Someiyoshino all over the world have same DNA. It is why the cherry blossom burst at one time according to the change of the temperature. But there are many cultivars, and there are about 100 natural cultivars are growing naturally in the mountain. Here is the page of the many cultivars of sakura. http://www.pref.ishikawa.jp/ringyo/sakura/index50.htm People who know well about sakura enjoy the many kind of sakura. Also in kimono, we can find the different shapes of cherry blossoms, and sometimes 'shidare-sakura'(weeping cherry blossom) are dyed very impressively. Today we have listed some uchikake karinui fabric, kimono and fabrics. Especially we have got many beautiful uchikake karinui fabrics, and we are grateful you could check them.

No50 -15 March 2004

Hello form Ichiro. This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's New Letter No. . Here in Osaka, it is becoming warmer and warmer in these days. Only a week ago, it snowed here, but today is warm day, and it looks as if it is the sunny Sunday in April. Our office is closed, and all staffs are off today. Our elder daughter Shoko finished university entrance exam a few days ago. We don't know whether she pass or fail the exams yet, but our family feel calm now. Yuka and two daughters went out to the downtown of Osaka, to buy some spring clothes and eat some grub. I am at the office and working alone. I don't want to go along with them, because I must be waiting for a long long time at the front of the stores, while they are choosing the clothes. Instead of going to downtown, I went to 'Super Sento' near our office in the morning. Maybe you already know 'sento' - public bath. 'Sen' means money, and 'TU' means 'hot water'. When we were children or more earlier time, many people lived the house without bath. My ground mother was the superintendent of flat, and its flat didn't have bath in any apartment. Only the joint lavatory were in each floors, and residents had to go out to sento to take a bath. When I was very small boy, the bath of our house often did not work, and I had to go out to sento sometimes. In the olden times there were many sento in almost each village or town. We used to walk to sento with the washtubs, towels, change of clothes and some coins. The way home was very pleasant during warm seasons. Night winds were nice and cool to the flashed skins, and we used to enjoy drinking cold milk. But during the winter season, the way to sento, especially the way home was sometimes pain. Old type sento has two large bathtubs for men and women, and was separated with high wall. There are the entrances of the 'Otokoyu'( bath for men) and 'Onnayu'(bath for women), and 'noren'(curtain) are hanged there. (Noren has character of 'Otokoyu' and 'Onnayu'). And there is a tall 'bandai' desk there, and we must pay the fee to the man on the 'bandai' desk. (The fee of old type sento is 400 yen now. It was much less expensive when I was a child.) They are ordinarily the owner of sento or his family members. Beyond the noren entrance, there is dressing rooms and we take off the wears and keep the clothes to the wooden locker there. From the 'bandai'(tall desk), sento master man can see the dressing rooms of both men's and women's. I remember I asked my mother why the man on 'bandai' was allowed to see the women's dressing room several times. There is the page about old type sento. There are many photos, which help you imagine how the old time sento looked like. http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~wadyfarm/suginamiarea2.html#eria2 There is the page of collections of sento noren. http://www.kt.rim.or.jp/~tsukasa/sento/ga/noren/index.htm In the wall of bathtub rooms, there is an extra large picture. Ordinarily they are the picture of bold scenery pattern ( Mt. Fuji scenery seems to be most popular) . Here is the photos of process of painting the sento picture. http://www.kt.rim.or.jp/~tsukasa/sento/ga/penki/3.htm In olden times people had to go to sento, mainly because they didn't have bath in their house, but sento also had been had the function as a place for social interaction of neighbors. People enjoyed the chatting and gossips there, and if the kids run wild, people taught them manners. But now people become rich, and the houses and flats without bath became so few. Many old type sento have been closing their business, because of the rapid decline of the customers. And nowadays sento are surviving and reviving as 'Super Sento'. One super sento 'Uguisunoyu' opened about a year ago between our office and home. We have a bath in our home, but I go there every weekend, because super sento give me more relax feeling than home-bath. Uguisinoyu has is a huge sento. It has several large indoor bathtubs, some of which have jet bubbles and different temperatures. There are two sauna rooms, and there also are several outdoor bathtubs. Outdoor bathtubs are in the steep slope, and from the highest bathtub we can see the beautiful town scenery. In the night we also can see the night scene of town and stars from the bathtub. Wooden terrace is made just near the highest outdoor bath, we can lie down with towels for a while. After taking the bathes, we can also enjoy the light meal, or massage service. The fees of Uguisunoyu is 600 yen, only 100 yen higher than old type sento. Uguisunoyu is very popular, and especially the day before the holiday, it is very crowded with people. Now super sento is very popular among people in all over Japan, and its number is increasing rapidly. Here is the photos of one super sento. http://h-kurume.shop-info.com/web/spotlight/ousama/ousama.html If you come to Japan, and come to our office, let's go to Uguisunoyu with us. Today we have listed some silk fabrics and several supreme pieces, which I got from one of the most famous vintage kimono dealer in Japan. She showed me lots of her supreme pieces, and kindly gave me some most favorite pieces at whole sale price. She told me the stories about all pieces - when and from whom she got them, and why she loves them. Those pieces are very rare, and we seldom come across these class pieces at the kimono auctions. The pieces I selected and asked her to sell are very very attractive also for me, and once I got them, I began to think I would like to keep them for myself. But as she said, pieces must be circulated among the kimono lovers. We listed *Supreme Embroidery Uchikake from Meiji period. Its embroidery work is supreme, and its condition is perfect. *Two Shirozashi Noragi from Tohoku district. It is very very rare sashiko pieces. *Three Sakiori Noragi. They have very very beautiful well torn textures, and has white sashiko stitch's accent. *Supreme Tsume Tsuzure Koto Cover. This piece is incredible piece. If the pattern was dyed, we think it might been special piece, but this piece is WOVEN with Tsume Tsuzure technique all over it.

No49 -8 March 2004

Hello from very chilly Osaka. This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News Letter.We hope you are all well -- We have e-mailed you regarding the fake mail from `The Ichiroya.com team '. As we mentioned,`The Ichiroya.com team' has nothing to do with us and we have never sent that mail. Thank you very much for your consideration and we hope none of you opened the zipfile they have sent. Domo arigatou gozaimasu We call the firemen's jacket as 'Hikeshi Sashiko Banten'. It is made of multiple layered cotton, and was designed to be wetted and to protect firemen from bruises and burns. Sashiko stitches reinforced the cloth to protect the body against the heat, cool and droppings. In the inside they have vivid pictures, which are deeply rooted in the tatoos. Themes are dragon, tiger and samurai, and they were painted with vivid and vigorous touch. Firemen wore the jacket with the right side (which has only simple design) out while working. They were widely admired for their skills, bravery and morality, just like as the spacemen today.In Edo period (1603-1867), fires often occurred in town, and they couldn't easily be extinguished. Because there were not the electricity, so people had to use candles or lantern in their house, and once the fires occurred, fires spreaded very fast because the material of houses are wood and papers. Firemen helped the people, and pulled down the housed downwind of fires, in order to prevent the flames from engulfing others. Firemen were proud that they costed their lives to saving the people in the community, and they were considered to be manlier and braver than anyone else. After the fire fighting ended, the fire firemen wore the jacket inside out. They walked back streets with displaying the vigorous pictures triumphantly . They might go drinking with jacket too. People had to admire and thank them to see their style. The pictures of firemen jacket have similar design with tatoos. Tatoos here in Japan are often associated with outsiders or gangs, but in Edo period tatoo evoled such images. Heroes of popular prints books had tatoo on the backs, and Edo people liked them. Most town firemen in Edo had splendid tatoos on their back,and they were considered to be the proof of menly and chivalrous men. So the town firemen in Edo period didn't need pictures inside, and mainly they wore the Sashiko jacket with repeated pattern in the outside. But penal provisions forbidding tattoos were issued 1872, and since then tattoo have been treated as illegal and outsiders' thing. Tattoo seems to have bad image gradually from end of the Edo period, because of the opening of Japan to the world. So the firemen jackets from ending of Edo period, Meiji period (1868-1912) and later has pictures inside on behalf of the tatoos. Hikeshi Sashiko Banten are very rare also here in Japan. And already good pieced went abroad, and belonged in Museums. They with good pictures were traded at the price of approx a million yen at the bubble era (1990's). Nowadays the price are coming down nearly half or to 70%, but the collectors wouldn't like to sell them with negative profit. We fortunately got one of the Hikeshi Sashiko Banten a week ago. Today we have listed it here. http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=59054 It is considered to be from Meiji peirod (1868-1912), and has stunning dragon motif inside. Dragon, wave and clouds are dyed vividly. Sashiko stitches are hand done and textile is very thick. We are offering it at $2400. The picture of this piece is slightly faded, because of its hard use. If the picture is more sharp, and the pigments are vivid, it will cost more than $6000. I touch the fabric and enjoy its vigrous dragon picture, with imagined how honored and proud the original owner was. had to be the man among men - manly, brave and self-denial. And I also imagine the many firemen in these days, and their brave behaviors and their death ------ I would like to become the man with the same spirit of the Shouboushi(firefighter).

No48 -1 March 2004

Hello from Japan. This is Yuka writing Ichiroya's news letter. Here is one chart--this is a statistics on population. Can you guess what this chart is showing? http://www8.cao.go.jp/kourei/whitepaper/w-2000/zu_123.htm The thick black line is Japan, and USA, France, Germany, UK and Sweden are also shown. This chart shows the the increase of aging population--Japan is facing a problem of aging population --which no other countries have ever experienced before. We are about to enter the age of aged people's country. The ratio of elderly people at least 65 years old in Japan is getting higher and higher drastically--then what will it happen? My parents live alone in Nara but they are thinking about moving. Since both of them are getting weaker and they do not drive any more, they are looking for a place to live close to us. Today, I went to see a new house for my parents. It is actually a condominium (condominium are called `mansion' in Japan) They lived in a same house for 42 years, so it is a big issue and I feel so responsible. Recently, there are many condominiums close to the train stations or close to the big cities. It used to be living in houses in the suburbs is the ideal way but it seems it is changing because of various reasons. I have to see more objects before I can recommend them, but I have been thinking what kind of condominium is good for them? What are the points to decide where to live? Some of you may live in big cities and some of you may live in the place surrounded by nature. We say `Sumeba miyako' which means `Every bird thinks its own nest beautiful', so we hope we can find a suitable place for them to live. I want to write a little about houses in Japan. If you come to Japan and visit someone's house, you take off your shoes at Genkan(entrance). Most of the living rooms are western style but some are Japanese style. If you are invited to a Japanese room, you will be offered to sit on Zabuton(cusion), then sitting straight with your legs folded under you will be preferred but it is alright if you cannot do this. Usually there are a living room(dining is combined with living room often)kitchen + some bedrooms. The idea of `den' is heard recently but most of the houses have no such space. Many men have dreams to have their own study room but most of the cases it remains as a dream until any of the children leaves their houses. Most children stay home until they graduate from college. Many people keep living with their parents until they get married. It may be a little different from the situation of your country. When people get married, they live in a small apartments or mansion and then, after certain years, people start to have their own houses. However, because of the bubble economy, the cost of land and houses remain low, so many people choose to rent a house and prefer not to have a loan. Cost of houses remain low but it makes people difficult to sell their houses to buy a new one. Our daughter became 18 years old sometime before, and I was stunned by the fact that I am a mother of 18 years old girl. I thought I was 18 some time ago...I wondered where these years have gone. Am I an amnesia victim ? Why she became 18 so quickly? She was surely a baby some time ago. How could she become taller than me without my knowing? I could not believe myself looking for a house for my parents--I thought I was young but I guess it is a reality. `Thank you' to the things I went through and `Yes' to the things which will come --I have read this somewhere.. I think one of the former United Nations Secretary General said this. (Please let me know if you know who said this) Thank you very much for reading -- we wish all of you a wonderful brand new week.

No47 -23 February 2004

This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News Letter by Ichiro. Yesterday and today are very warm days, and we confuse that long-awaited advent of spring already has come. Ume blossom already bloom here, and we don't need winter jacket at noon to go out. But we know the cooler days come back soon, and gradually the temperature will rise. We call it 'sankan-shion'. 'San' means three, 'shi' means four, and 'kan' means 'cold' and 'on' means 'warm'. So the words means ' Three-cold-days, and four-warm-days, and guradually it is getting warmer'. Maybe it is same season where you live. Spring is our starting season - guraduation, entrance, getting employment are in spring. I(Ichiro) have started learning English by individual instruction just now. Many customers think 'Yuka and Kayo speak English fluently, but Ichiro's English is ......'. I decided to improve my English, especially the listening and speaking skills. Before yesterday, if someone called us and I took the phone, I said only hello and handed it to Yuka or Kayo san. But from today I will try to speak more to thank you. Your phone is always welcome! If you have some questions about kimono and Japanese textiles, please call my handiphone.( 81-90-5896-8406 about your oders, please call our office number ) --If you have the courage to become the English teacher. trial horse for Ichiro's English speaking. My new teacher Chris san is from United Kingdom, and he is 42 years old sophisticated male. I was threatend by the cordinater that Chris san is strict, and give me tons of assignment. But he looks very kind, gentle and intellectual. I will follow him and would like to improve my skills. As many customers noticed, discripitons of the items are wrote by me with unskilled English. I would like to write better discriptions to convey the charm of the fabrics more efficently. We are going to discuss the kimono discriptions, and I would like to improve the writing skill too. Recently I have found the magazine, which introduce Japanese art & antique in English. It is named 'Daruma', and we came to know that it is very popular among the foreigners all over the world, who are interested in Japanese culture. I ordered some recent and back issues, and now reading them. The themes are not only the textiles but also netsuke, ukiyoe, modern art, pottery and other Japanese antique items. And I found its contents are specialistic and very informative also to us. I read the articles about kasuri, tsutsugaki and textile of Okinawa, and they all are very interesting. It contains many beautiful color pictures, and some articles are written by the famous kimono dealers, who I know. Here is the site of 'Daruma' magazine. http://www.darumamagazine.com/ 'Daruma' is sent anywhere in the world for the same fee. It is published in March, June, Sep. and Dec. We strongly recommend this magazine if you would like to know more about the Japanese textiles. They have link page in their site, and the publisher gave us the promise to link our site ( She only re-write the site contents three month interval, the link will be appeared three month later.) We don't receive any profit, if our customers subscribe the magazine. We only recommend the magazine has rich contents, which we can not offer through our site and newsletter. But it is possible, we are very grateful if you add some words about our site when you subscribe. Perchance the publisher may write about us in her magazine ( of course it is mathematical chance, because the magazine seems to exclude the commercial articles ). In these days we become to like kasuri and vintage cotton fabrics more and more. They looks to me as if they are the gem. They are the rare crafts, which only old-time Japanese could be able to make. We love their soft touch texture and interesting pattern, which cann't be made in these days. Some people cut the vintage fabrics and made their crafts, so the good kasuri is becoming less and less. You can buy vintage hand-dyed & hand-woven kasuri at approx $100-, but same quality fabrics can not be made no matter you pay. But for the offering kasuri, we seem to be more careful about the discriptions and photos. Here are the some points we would like to let you know. 1. Vintage(pre WWIII) kasuri is hand-dyed and hand-woven. Almost all textile has soft touch. And they are dyed with 'ai'- natural indigo. 2. Old kasuri is mostly machine-woven. There remain many Bingo kasuri here, which have colorful double ikat variety. Dyestuff is artificial indigo. 3. Most Bingo kasuri has stiff touch, and some have too soft こしがない。Someone says it is because it was machine-woven, but it may not be right. Because the contemporary Kurume Kasuri, which is woven with machine has soft touch. The softness of the textile seems to be determined by twisting(yarn) and thickness of weaving. 4. Origin of the vintage kasuri sometimes can not be determined. Four main procuct centres are Kurume(kyusyu), Sanin, Iyo(Shikoku) and Bingo, and also in Tohoku kasuri was woven. Some patterns are thought to be unqiue in each product center( for examples typical geometric pattern is from Kurume), but it is not absolute. Kasuri was woven by the farmer's wives and mothers. For examples if some female in Kurume learned the technique of Kurume kasuri from her mother, and got married with man in Iyo, and came to Iyo. Should the kasuri made by her in Iyo be called Iyo Kasuri or Kurume Kasuri? 5, Principal ingredients of 'ai' and artificial indigo has same component. So it is difficult to tell dyestuff (artificial indigo or 'ai') by its color. But 'Honai'(dyed with 'ai') seems to have more warm indigo color than artificail one.

No46 -16 February 2004

Hello from Japan. This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News Letter No47. Yesterday(February 14) was Saint Valentine's Day and it is celebrated alsoin Japan. We heard that the day is celebrated in many countries--Saint Valentine's Day in Japan seems to be a commercial project by chocolate companies. As the new tradition of roll sushi, we seem to like a special event related to food. Women or girls have to prepare chocolate if there are any men or boys around them on that day. Chocolate for someone special-- and also chocolate out of courtesy. It is said to be the day that women can make a declaration of love to someone they admire. Quite a lot of sales of chocolate is made on this day, and handmade chocolate materials also sell very much. Our daughter Mugi stayed up late to make chocolate cake the day before the day, and she presented it to her boyfriend. When I was a student, I also used to anticipate the chocolate on February 14. Usually I got poor catch compared with friends, who were attractive to girls. This year I got several chocolates. My daughters and Yuka and staffs gave me chocolate. Chocolate given out of courtesy (duty chocolate) is called 'Giri-choco'. 'Giri' means 'duty', so there is the atmosphere that women or girls must present chocolate to their bosses or co-workers. It is just a fun day and we all enjoy eating chocolate both men and women on the day everywhere. When I was working for Daimaru Department Store as a manager of the table ware division, I made the highest record of chocolates. Of course they are all Giri-choco, but one of my boss said he always checked all cards ( which are attached to the chocolates) before brought them home. He always got three big bags of chocolates, and later he became the board member! Recently we have got some unique items. We will list some unique cotton items from today, which are mainly from Tohoku district. In Tohoku district, asa(Japanese linen) was the main fabrics for kimono before Edo period (1603-1867), but in Yokote cotton was woven and dyed with 'ai'(natural indigo). Today we have listed very rare antique yogi made of Yokote Gasuri. It has rare cock motif, and has very soft touch ( of course it was dyed and woven with hand ). http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58270 We also listed three 'katazome' ( stenciled with paste-resist technique) cotton fabrics. Their exotic repeated pattern have the special kind of beauty. Textiles are thick cotton and has very soft touch. Japanese people love these vintage katazome cotton for the handicraft just like as kasuri. The combination of kasuri and katazome seems to give the crafts very unique design. http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58271 http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58272 http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58273 We have also listed some vintage 'noragi'(farmer's jacket). They are made of cotton, and have many repaired parts, which are added other cotton fabrics. Fabrics are hand-woven kasuri, shima(stripe) cotton, and dyed-pattern cotton, and some are added 'sashiko'( stitches ) to add the strength to the fabrics. As I wrote in previous mails, in old days fabrics were valuable, and people used many many times with repairing, and finally they made the fabrics to 'sakiori'. When I touch and see this kind of noragi, I always imagine the owner's severe lives, and feel the love of the their mothers and wives. http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58265 http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58266 http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58267 http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58268 http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58269 We will be able to list more kasuri and cotton items in this week. We hope you enjoy our items. Like as Tohoku district(nothern Japan), Okinawa(southern Japan) also has many unique dyed and woven textiles. Some days we would like to introduce items from Okinawa, but good items from Okinawa are always very very high price. We sometimes come across Bingata dyed silk, but they always cost more than $5000 at wholesale price. But last week we have got very good silk bolt with Bingata style dyed. They are dyed in Kyoto with Bingata stenciled technique, but has tasteful and exotic Bingata essence. It will be an special kimono, if you made kimono with them. http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58219 http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58225 We have listed many silk and cotton bolt too. We are very grateful if you could check our new items. http://www.ichiroya.com/item/search.php?md=0216 Always we thank you for your attention and ordering. Arigatou gozaimasu!!

No45 -9 February 2004

Hello from Japan. This is Kimono Flea Market Ichoroya's News Letter. Here in Japan ume blossom is in full bloom in the northern district. Spring is at the corner, but we seems to have wait for more days, to see the cherry blossom.I(Ichiro) was in the Tohokku district a few days ago, and it snowed heavily there. People there said it was very rare to have heavy snow like these days. They all wore rain boots, and it reminds me the Tohoku district is very cool, and they had lots of snows before. Today is Sunday, and our office was closed. Yesterday nigt, we went to Jazz concert and refreshed ourselves. Concert was by Michael Brecker from USA, who is one of the most popular jazz sax player(Ichiro love music, especially jazz!) . Today Yuka went her parents home to help their lives. I went to National Ethnic Museum in Osaka, which is holding ' Exhibiton of Ainu Life'. As I wrote in previous News Letter, Ainu is the aborigine in Hokkaido, located in the northernmost regions of Japan.Their culture and art have spiritul and powerful forms, which shows the traces of Jomon era(Japanese Paleolithic). They lived in severe cold weather, and they lived on hunting and fishery, and their lauguage didn't have the past form. After the end of Edo period (1603-1867), their unique culture - for example, tatoo in the face of adult women lost gradually.Our generation of Ainu speak only Japanese, and live all over Japan. Some of them live in their home land - Hokkaido, and try to inherit　their ethnic tradition in modern life, just may be the same as other aboligine in the world. Some of them work as craft men, and are making their traditinal crafts, arts and goods also for suveniors. Besides the unique wear and textile, Ainu is know with their wood curving technique. In the exhibiton most works were from after Showa period, which were made by Ainu lady who inherit their technique from their mother and grand mother. I overwhelmed with the atomoshere - Ainue works have magical power.Its unique design has roots in ancient Jomon culture. Here is the photos of Jomon ware. http://www.um.u-tokyo.ac.jp/dm2k-umdb/dae99/dig_m_r/jdb/doki/index_goto.html Here is the very informative web about Ainu and their Culture. http://www.ainu-museum.or.jp/english/english.html Their wears are made of various kinds of hides or vegetable fibers, and after the Edo preiod(1603-1867) cotton were carried from the southern region of Japan. Ainu people got cotton in the exchange of their labors or catch, and added unique applique and embroidery on it.From the document, Ainu people made their wear also with fish skins, but they seems not to remain. Attus is made from the bast fiber of an elem treee, and Retarape is made from nettle fibers.They are decrated with unique pattern applique and embroidery. Its abstract pattern is thought to have the origin in the Jomon culture. Fortunately we have got two Ainu jackets. Recently antique Ainu jacket is very rare, and if we come across them, most of them are added embroidery later on the original one, or found that it is more made more recently. Several days ago we came to know one of our familiar antique kimono dealer, who is very famous in this world, has been collected antique Ainu wears and goods. We often buy antique kimonos from him, so he gave us two antique Ainu jacket to us　at whole sale price. One is the jacket made of attus, bark of elm and considered to be from the beginning Meiji peirod ( 1868-1912). It has unique touch of attus, and has beautiful woven stripe pattern. http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58034 Another piece is made of cotton, and added applique and embroidery. Cotton fabric has woven check pattern, and it is from end of the Edo period (1603-1867) or early Meiji peirod (1868-1912). http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58035

No44 -2 February 2004

Hello from Japan. This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA'A News Letter No44. We woke up to find snow on the ground here in Osaka. In the previous news, I wrote the climate here has been becoming warmer compared withour boyhood. But these two days Japan is hit by the coldest wave in this winter. Large flakes of snow is falling now. If you come to Japan at winter season, I would like to recommend to go to shrines and temples covered with snow. In every season they has particular beauty, but the scenes completely covered white are also especially impressive. I wouldlike to recommend one more place to go. It is open-air hot spring. When I was a planing manager of the Daimaru department store, I visited Tohoku district( northern are in Japan), and I was invited to the very small open-air hot spring. Its hot spring is in the outlying region, and it is mainly for people in the zone and the tourists seldom visit. I had to walk in very deep snow to the small house, and I was frozen by the time I reached the dressing room. But when I was calm down in the tub made ofJapanese cypress, I came to know it was the special experience, I have never had. Very large flakes of snow was falling, and was shining in the light of the lantern. All trees and scenery I could see in the dark were covered with pure white snow. The falling flakes were shimmering in the light, and the flakes were falling to me and to the surface of hot water also, and they melted there. I heard the subtle sound of falling snow in the hot water.That was the most impressive and serene experience I had about hot spring visit.Unfortunately it was more than 15 years ago, and I do not remember the name and place of it. But if you come to Japan, you will be able to find open-air hot spring like it. Snow had been thought to be the sign of banner year, and it became the popular motif in kimono. Some customers may have seen the'yuki-mochi-zasa', which means bamboo('zasa') covered ('mochi') withsnow('yuki'). There also are the 'yuki-mochi-yanagi'( 'yanagi' means willow) and 'yuki-mochi-tsubaki'('tsubaki' means camellia). There also are the 'yukiwa' and 'sekkamon'. Both are the motifs designed by the crystallization of snow. 'Yukiwa'(large circle shape pattern) was popular in the Genroku period(1688〜1704), and it was dyed in summer kimono for the taste of cool. Here is the sample of 'yukiwa' mon. http://www.rekihaku.ac.jp/kikaku/index30/pict2.html 'Sekkamon' is the pattern very near the real crystallization of snow, and it was used after the ending of Edo period (1603 - 1867 ).Its design is almost same design as you imagine, but we couldn't find the samples in the net. When I see snow, I often imagine the crucial farmer's life in area of very heavy snowfall. Before WWII or more earlier, farmers had to work away from home during the long winter, and wives had to house-sit with working in their house. Many wives made weaving, and supplemented the family income. Their weaving techniques were inherited from their mothers, and various technique were advanced in various places. For an ultimate sample, there is the Koginzashi. We have one museum class piece of Koginzashi. We are very grateful if you could enjoy the photos again, with imagine the snow covered scenery. http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=55451

No43 -19 January 2004

Hello from Japan. This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News Letter No47. Yesterday(February 14) was Saint Valentine's Day and it is celebrated alsoin Japan. We heard that the day is celebrated in many countries--Saint Valentine's Day in Japan seems to be a commercial project by chocolate companies. As the new tradition of roll sushi, we seem to like a special event related to food. Women or girls have to prepare chocolate if there are any men or boys around them on that day. Chocolate for someone special-- and also chocolate out of courtesy. It is said to be the day that women can make a declaration of love to someone they admire. Quite a lot of sales of chocolate is made on this day, and handmade chocolate materials also sell very much. Our daughter Mugi stayed up late to make chocolate cake the day before the day, and she presented it to her boyfriend. When I was a student, I also used to anticipate the chocolate on February 14. Usually I got poor catch compared with friends, who were attractive to girls. This year I got several chocolates. My daughters and Yuka and staffs gave me chocolate. Chocolate given out of courtesy (duty chocolate) is called 'Giri-choco'. 'Giri' means 'duty', so there is the atmosphere that women or girls must present chocolate to their bosses or co-workers. It is just a fun day and we all enjoy eating chocolate both men and women on the day everywhere. When I was working for Daimaru Department Store as a manager of the table ware division, I made the highest record of chocolates. Of course they are all Giri-choco, but one of my boss said he always checked all cards ( which are attached to the chocolates) before brought them home. He always got three big bags of chocolates, and later he became the board member! Recently we have got some unique items. We will list some unique cotton items from today, which are mainly from Tohoku district. In Tohoku district, asa(Japanese linen) was the main fabrics for kimono before Edo period (1603-1867), but in Yokote cotton was woven and dyed with 'ai'(natural indigo). Today we have listed very rare antique yogi made of Yokote Gasuri. It has rare cock motif, and has very soft touch ( of course it was dyed and woven with hand ). http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58270 We also listed three 'katazome' ( stenciled with paste-resist technique) cotton fabrics. Their exotic repeated pattern have the special kind of beauty. Textiles are thick cotton and has very soft touch. Japanese people love these vintage katazome cotton for the handicraft just like as kasuri. The combination of kasuri and katazome seems to give the crafts very unique design. http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58271 http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58272 http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58273 We have also listed some vintage 'noragi'(farmer's jacket). They are made of cotton, and have many repaired parts, which are added other cotton fabrics. Fabrics are hand-woven kasuri, shima(stripe) cotton, and dyed-pattern cotton, and some are added 'sashiko'( stitches ) to add the strength to the fabrics. As I wrote in previous mails, in old days fabrics were valuable, and people used many many times with repairing, and finally they made the fabrics to 'sakiori'. When I touch and see this kind of noragi, I always imagine the owner's severe lives, and feel the love of the their mothers and wives. http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58265 http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58266 http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58267 http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58268 http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58269 We will be able to list more kasuri and cotton items in this week. We hope you enjoy our items. Like as Tohoku district(nothern Japan), Okinawa(southern Japan) also has many unique dyed and woven textiles. Some days we would like to introduce items from Okinawa, but good items from Okinawa are always very very high price. We sometimes come across Bingata dyed silk, but they always cost more than $5000 at wholesale price. But last week we have got very good silk bolt with Bingata style dyed. They are dyed in Kyoto with Bingata stenciled technique, but has tasteful and exotic Bingata essence. It will be an special kimono, if you made kimono with them. http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58219 http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=58225 We have listed many silk and cotton bolt too. We are very grateful if you could check our new items. http://www.ichiroya.com/item/search.php?md=0216 Always we thank you for your attention and ordering. Arigatou gozaimasu!!

No42 -12 January 2004

Next Monday(Jan 12) is Coming-of-Age Day and young girls and boys who become 20 years old this year wearkimono and attend the ceremonies. Many Boys wear business suit instead of kimono and hakama --todress like`Men in Black' seems to be very popular recently. Fancy furisode kimono are worn and they take many photos--the photos are treasured as a wonderful memory of turning 20 years old.Wearing furisode is very difficult work even for Japanese, most girls ask kimono fitter for this day.Many girls go to the beauty parlor, and ask to set their hair and dress them furisode.Yuka only went to photo studio(long long time ago), and asked help for dressing just as other people and took photos. Jan 12 and New Year's Day are the precious days when we can see beautiful furisode ladies on the street. http://www.komae.co.jp/ph_item/03_seijin.htmlhttp://www.sunphoto.co.jp/seijin.html http://www.dcn.ne.jp/~yamada/new_page_6.htm Yuka didn't go the Coming-of-Age Day ceremony, I(Ichiro) also didn't attend the ceremony.In Japan Coming-of-Age Day ceremonies are held by municipality, and if we had attend theceremonies, we had to hear the mayor's speech. When we were young, many young people thought mayor's speech was boring, and attending the ceremonies was not very cool.( I was a smart-assbad boy! But, Dear Mayor I didn't attend because I didn't have business suit!) Recently, some kids make a fuss, and break the atmosphere of the ceremony, and the scene of the fuss often are in the news. I want to write about this matter, but if I do so, I will have to become acutely aware of my aging, so I stop here. In the season of the college and university graduation ceremony ( in February - March), you can see young ladies in hakama and furisode. The graduated female students often wear hakama. http://members.at.infoseek.co.jp/nwakana/kimono/hakama2.html Some customers may think the hakama is the costume only for men. In the Taisho period (1912 - 1926) and early Showa period (1926-1989), female students wore hakama as ordinary wear at their school. And now the most formal wear at the academe was thought to be hakama. As a top wear forhakama, there is not the special kimono for it. Any furisode and kimono can be worn, if they fit. Sometimes we came across ladies' hakama, but we don't buy them. If you are interested inladies hakama, please let us know. Above and beyond this, we have got exceptionally rare piece. This costume set was worn by Emperor Meiji(1852-1912). This set was given to a family in Kyoto, and recently came to antique kimono market from that family. Because the origin is clear, and there are many evidences(some kanji characters on them, and woven patterns), we can guarantee it was worn by Emperor Meiji. Please check here.( We didn't introduce as a New Arrival Items, and added it at the last end of the 'Others' selection.) http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=56996 We can't make up our mind whether to list it on e-bay or not.The box is too big to send by postal service, so if we send it to USA, we must separate it two packages. If someone are interestedin this item, please let us know. We would like to sell this item to familiar customer. We are always looking for antique and vintage kimono and fabrics, but it is becoming difficult to collect them at moderate price. For examples we could easily get rich urushi pattern haori two years ago, but now we seldom come across rich urushi pattern haori at auction. 'Hajyaku'( silk bolt forhaori) is also becoming very less, and when they come to auction, the price become near double compared with the previous price. At used and dead-stock kimono(fabric) market the items becomeless, and the price is rising. If you are looking for kimono silk bolt, please note this situation. Karinui(roughly sewn kimono shape fabric) still remain at moderate price, and if you unsewn karinui(they are sewn so roughly, so it is so easy to unstitch to make it back to long fabrics. You will be able to get much fabrics as much as silk bolt. We strongly recommendkarinui fabric for the handicraft material( we have many Karinui at our site.) http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list.php?ct=010 Yuka do not have many jewel but her most precious thing are the pearl earrings she was given from her parents when she turned 20 years old. They are simple small pearl earrings but pearls are something very special and she said she was so happy and felt like she became a real grown uplady. Pearls are something you could wear any time with its simple but serene charm.Pearls have been loved by women in Japan always--we are adding three unique beautifulaccessories from Japan. Pearl, Cloisonne and Damascene are the three unique and enchanting accessories with Japanese craftsman ship. Pearl accessories are going to be added at the end of this month. dozo otanoshimikudasai-we hope you will enjoy the three glowing beauties: http://www.ichiroya.com/top/beautytrio.htm

No42 -5 January 2004

Akemashite Omedeto gozaimasu(A Happy New Year!) Kotoshimo Yoroshiku(Yours cordially this year too) These two lines are the new year greetings being exchanged by everyone in Japan. `Akemashite' means `opening up'--so the first line is congratulating the opening up of the brand new year. `Yoroshiku' is the very tough word to translate. It means, `Sincerely yours ', `Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.' or many others but if we can make it simple, it means `let's be friends this year too'. To someone you would like to keep the nice relationship, the sentence is always used. The new year greeting words are never used until Jan 01. To welcome a brand new year, cleaning up of the houses, yards and offices have to be done and the traditional dish(Osechi ryori) needs to be prepared. If there are children among your relatives, crisp bills have to be prepared in a special small envelope (Pochi bukuro)ready to be handed. (Bills have to be ironed, if you forgot to obtain crisp bills) Japan's recent economy is not so good but one of a most a thriving business is `Osechi ryori' catering. Osechi is not a single dish but the assorted food placed beautifully in a lacquered fancy boxes. To complete all the food ( usually there are 3 piled boxes)ready, it takes a couple of days. There used to be big families living together and women in the families were to cook, so the each family had the recipes went down to the new generation naturally. The lifestyles changed and more and more people depend on catering service for Osechi. Of course many people still keep making some of Osechi, but buying Osechi is becoming very popular. As an average--people pay 20000yen to 50000yen(US$180--454) for Osechi. You may think it is very expensive but Osechi are keepable foods to eat the first 3 days or more of New Year's Days. Osechi plus Zoni(New Year's hotchpotch) are mostly eaten for those days. Economy is not good but instead of going to trip or eating at the fancy restaurants, people seem to be spending more money for Osechi and enjoy family reunions at home. Shall we show you some of the typical food of Osechi? http://homepage1.nifty.com/NOM/special/illust_sp_o.htm First row, from the left: *kurikinton--sweet mashed potatoes with sweet chestnut *hasu--lotus root *namasu--pickled daikon(white radish) and carrot *kuwai--cooked arrowhead Second row: *kamaboko--fish minced and steamed(red and white) *kazonoko--herring egg (symbol of numerous offspring ) *tatukuri--small dried sardines *kobumaki--rolled tangle with dried fish in it Third row: *ebi--shrimp or lobster( a symbol of longevity--wishing to live long until back bends as shirimp) *datemaki--egg roll *takenoko--bamboo shoot(bamboo is a congratulatory motif) *kuromame--cooked black beans Fourth row: *toshikoshisoba--noodles--we hurry eating soba before the year end bells end. *zoni--New Year's hotchpotch--there are many kinds of zoni and it differs very much according to the areas. It can be the problem of husband-and-wife or one's wife and one's mother quarrel. *nimono--cooked vegetables--they are usually home made. *yawatamaki-- gobou(vegetable)rolled with thin beef or eel Of course there are more and more food according to each house or area. Here is the example of a hotel-made Osechi: http://www.princehotels.co.jp/newyear2004/osechi/akasaka/index.html We are surprised to see our daughters eating a lot of Osechi food this year. When they were small, they did not want to try Osechi that much for they were quite new for them--but gradually they started to savor the traditional food. Osechi boxes are almost empty now. We ate a lot of mochi(rice cake) too. Family reunions, eating Osechi, visiting shrines--the events of New Year's Days are almost over now. Most of the offices opens from Jan 05 and schools start from Jan 08. Highways were so crowded with the cars of the people coming back from their hometown to spend New Year's Day with their families. A brand new year 2004 is started. May this year be peaceful and happy for all of you.

No41 -22 December 2003

Dec 28 is usually `shigoto osame'--the last day of work. On that day they often clean up the offices to welcome a new year. The rest of the days until the very end of the year, people become busy doing year-end general house cleaning and preparing the dishes for the New Year. *Our office will be closed from Dec 28th to Jan 4th due to New Year's holidays. We are very sorry for the inconvenience during those days. Ichiro, Yuka and staffs are going to take each winter vacation in those days. At summer vacation we went to Hokkaido, but this time we don't have travel plan. Our daughter Shoko is preparing for entrance exams for university,(the exams starts from January)and we will be at home with her. In this letter I am going to write about 'Oshougatsu' - New Year's Day in Japan when we were children. On New Year's Eve or earlier we Japanese prepare to welcome the new year. We do a thorough house cleaning on the last day of the year. When I was a child, my mother used to clean inside and outside of the house, and repaper sliding doors with pure white paper. We prepare 'mochi', rice cake which we eat during New Year's Day Vacation. From mid Showa period, ordinary Japanese buy mochi from retailers, but some people still pound mochi by　themselves. Not many houses have tools any more, so many schools or kindergatens have `mochituki' to let children have the experience. http://www.ne.jp/asahi/midorigaoka/youchien/H15/h150502.htm When I was a school boy, my father bought 'mochi pound machine', which looked like a small washing machine. It was very interesting scene that glutinous rice grains became mochi glob in that machine. Just made mochi are hot and very delicious. We used to make small mochis from the glob, and eat directly. On the eyeing we see 'Kohaku-utagassen' (annual NHK sponsored year-end men versus women singing contest) on the TV. It has been very popular TV show on New Year's Eve, and had high audience rating from mid Showa period ( 1926-1989). We sit in the 'kotatsu'(small table with an electric heater underneath and covered by a quilt ) with all family members, and see that TV program on the evening. And in front of TV we eat 'toshikoshi-soba'(buckwheat noodles eaten on New Year's Eve) around 11 pm. Soba is the auspicious food and eating soba at New Year's Eve means to wish long lives. Around the twelve midnight bells of the local temples start ringing all over Japan, and TV have lives from some famous temples from all over Japan. People are supposed to repent sins of a year hearing the bells, and prepare to welcome the new year with pure minds. Bells are tolled 108 times, that is because there thought to be 108 earthly desires in Buddhism teaching. Almost at every place in Japan bells of the temples are heard wherever you are. If you think you have too many earthly desires, please come to Japan and hear the 108 bells with me :-) Many people pay a first visit to a shrine on a New Year's Day. Some people go to shrines just after the twelve midnight. When I was a child, our family got up late in the morning at New Year's Day. My father and mother wore kimono, and my sister and I also wore the best western clothes, and sit down for the New Year's Day's meal. We greet each other saying `akemashite omedeto'(Happy New Year's Day). We celebrate the New Year by drinking toso or spiced sake, and eat mochi and 'osechi'(traditional New Year dishes). Osechi is the special dishes served for the first three days of the New Year, and mother used to make them before the New Year's Day. First three days of New Years are the holidays, and most stores were closed before mid Showa period (1926-1989). People had to store foods for these three days, and it also meant only these three days mothers got away from cooking and supposed to have rest. Osechi is stored in 'jyubako' ( tiered food boxes ), and many foods have auspicious meanings. Here is the sample photos of jyubako and osechi. http://www.sugiuratouki.com/osetijuubako/ In these days, many stores are open even in the New Year's Day, and many mothers don't make osechi for themselves, and buy from department store. The reason is of course to save time but also, buying all kinds of vegetables and other ingredients is quite costly. Buying the whole set --ready to eat oseti set is sometimes cheaper. Yuka buys some dishes and makes small osechi foods for herself, but both parents buy oseti now from department stores now. There are many attractive and delicious set sold at the department store, hotels and famous restaurants. http://store.yahoo.co.jp/okura/os04-35.html http://www.itbc.co.jp/hotel/restaurantevent/osechi/ Children are given 'otoshidama' (gift money)from their relatives. It is in the small paper bags called pochibukuro. If you have many relatives, you will receive many otoshidama. Yuka seemed to receive more otoshimada money than me, because she had many uncles and aunts near her home and she could greet them on New Year's Day. Recently, many people travel during the New Year's holidays and our description about Oshogatsu may become a little old fashioned but we both have the very warm and special memories of our homes at Osyogatu. Oshogatu was a very very special time for us when we were children. The festive atmosphere is getting less but we hope our daughter will have a nice memories of Oshogatu. dozo minasama yoi otoshio!(Have a happiest New Year)

No40 -15 December 2003

Once upon a time, God said to all animals, ' Come to say new year's greetings on a New Year's Day. I will appoint 12 animals as the leaders of the years by order of arrival.' Animals in the mountains and plains delighted and waited the New Year's Day to arrive before anyone else. By mistake cat forgot the day, and asked the good friend mouse what day they should go. Mouse lied 'it must be the morning of January 2nd!' On the New Year's Eve, cow started to outfitted himself for a journey in the middle of the night. Cow thought ' I am more cloddish than others, so I have to set out earliest'. Mouse saw the cow from the attic, and jumped on the back of the cow. Without noticing it, cow left for God's Palace slowly. In the midnight cow arrived the gate of the God's Palace, and there was none yet. Cow thought ' I must be the first, and become the leader of this year!', and waited the gate to open. The sun was up, and cock announced the dawn, the gate suddenly opened. When the cow was going to be willing to pass through the gate, the mouse jumped down to the ground, and run through the gate, and announce the new year greetings. The mouse became the first, and the poor cow became the second. Next the tiger run through the gate after the very long run, and the fourth was rabbit. Followers are dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog and boar, and after the 12 animals pass through the gate, the gate was closed. The cat went the gate early in the morning on the next day. God said ' you mistook the day. I already appointed 12 animals. You must wake up with washing your face' After that time cat often wash their faces, and chaise mouse. Above story is the Japanese old folk tale about '12-shi'(Oriental Zodiac). In Japan every year has the symbolical animal, which are from these 12 animals. http://www.clio.ne.jp/~yoshi/eto/eto.htm This year's(2003) animal is sheep, and next year's(2004) is monkey. We Japanese send 'Nengajyo'(new year's greeting card) to relatives, friends, clients and associates, and the motif of the card is ordinary from the year's animals. For examples, here is the next year's greeting card samples, http://www.sozaidaisuki.com/print/nenga/nenga1.htm (top page of above site is here http://www.sozaidaisuki.com) We also use the '12-shi' as the approach of divination or character assessment. My parents used to say Ichiro was always a rusher, because Ichiro's birth year was boar. Of course it doesn't have no scientific basis whatever, just like as the character assessment by blood type. But sometime it gives us the nice topics to tell about other's characters. If you are interested in the 12-shi of your birth year, please find it from the following chart. 1912,1924,1936,1948,1960,1972,1984,1996 - mouse 1913,1925,1937,1949,1961,1973,1985,1997 - cow 1914,1926,1938,1950,1962,1974,1986,1998 - tiger 1915,1927,1939,1951,1963,1975,1987,1999 - rabbit 1916,1928,1940,1952,1964,1976,1988,2000 - dragon 1917,1929,1941,1953,1965,1977,1989,2001 - snake 1918,1930,1942,1954,1966,1978,1990,2002 - horse 1919,1931,1943,1955,1967,1979,1991,2003 - sheep 1920,1932,1944,1956,1968,1980,1992,2004 - monkey 1921,1933,1945,1957,1969,1981,1993,2005 - chicken 1922,1934,1946,1958,1970,1982,1994,2006 - dog 1923,1935,1947,1959,1971,1983,1995,2007 - boar Yuka was born in the year of mouse--she is always squeaking! (Oh no! she is coming here----help!)

No39 -8 December 2003

You may wonder if we celebrate Christmas in Japan--yes Christmas is a very joyous season here too. Recently more and more Christmas decoration of the exterior of home are seen in ordinary cities. Only five years ago, very few people did Christmas decoration of the exterior. So when I(Ichiro) was the buyer of Christmas decoration goods in Daimaru department store, we offered only a few exterior decoration. We cannot know why it suddenly became very popular--even in our neighborhood, some people decorate their exterior with full of lights, and the houses became the sight of the town. Many people here are not Christians,(Christians in Japan is less than 5% of the whole population)but like the Westerner we also enjoy Christmas season with many joyous events as Christmas parties and concerts. If we are asked ` do you celebrate Christmas?'--we will say `yes' but it does not mean Japanese people are all Christians. In Japan one more notable event in December is 'oseibo'. We have a custom to send gifts to the people in recognition of their service. For examples, to business partners, teachers, relatives and bosses. People seem to send 'oseibo' to approx 10 - 15 persons on average . The items very often sent are beer, laver, juice, seasoning, detergent and so on(things which are practical and used in everyday life). Oseibo is assumed to be official gift, and people avoid to add the personal taste. People seem to have a tendency not to take the risk to give the gift items which are too unique. So if you were a powerful boss of big company in Japan, you would receive MANY oseibo gifts, and most of them are beer or laver or seasoning. Those items are able to be stored, and in ordinary family they are essential goods. But TOO many such items would bore you, and your partner would give them to their friends and relatives, or finally partner might sell them or return to the department to receive the alternative items. We know there is such aspect in sending oseibu gift, but we can not change the oseibo customs. Oseibo is not bribery but it is a token of the gratitude. Today we have listed some gift items to our site with kimono and fabric bolts. We offer regal silk bags, moneybags and neckties made by Tatsumura Textile Co,.LTD, and Kawashima Textile Manufacturers LTD. You may already know these names. Here in Japan they are the most outstanding and most high quality weaving companies and most people know these names for its supreme quality. Silk woven obi from these companies are exceptionally beautiful, but the prices also are quite high. Here is the sites of Tatsumura's and Kawashima. These site will give you the interesting information. http://www.tatsumura.co.jp/e/index.html http://www.kawashima.co.jp/en/index.html The items we have listed are all made of beautiful silk fabrics. They are exceptionally gorgeous patterns taken from the design of ancient fabrics. Textile has very soft and smooth touch, and the design will fit Western clothes. Off course thery are brand new and in boxes, and we think these will be one of the best gift for your taste. We also have listed accessories of damascene and cloisonne, which are hand made in Kyoto. These items are also very unique and beautiful Japanese items. We think these accessories will be special gifts for many people. We are very grareful if you could check them. Off course we can send to arrive by Christmas by EMS (Express mail). http://www.ichiroya.com/sp/list.php?spid=S3fd3683925434

No38 -1 December 2003

Hello. This is Yuka, Ichiro's wife. I am writing today's Ichiroya's News Letter. I am going to write about Japanese `kekkon' (marriage)of older times and also a little about the modern times. I remember having a great shock when I asked my grand mother a question, when I was very little. I asked my grandmother one day, `Obaachan(Grandma), how long did you go out with Ojiichan(Grandpa)?' and she said, she has seen his photo once before she got married with him. `Do you mean you got married without seeing him?' I remember asking her again and again. I just could not believe it and could not understand how people could get married with someone you have not seen him before. Kekkon (marriage)for women used to mean that she will be a yome. It is a very hard word to translate--it does not mean a wife but yome is yome- and it is written as women in a house when written in Kanji. Kekkon meant women to become a member of her husband's family, leaving her own family. Arranged marriage were the most popular style in my grand mother's time. There are naked(matchmaker)everywhere in the community, the relatives or bosses often set up the `omiai'(a go-between affair). There are still omiai system but these days matrimonial agency sytem seems to be more popular. When the marriage is set, the bridegroom has to bring `betrothal money' to the bride's house. Fukusa(covering cloth)with auspicious motifs are used, and the decorations of auspicious figures as pinetrees-bamboo-plumblossoms, or cranes & turtles as in the photo are often accompanied. http://www.yuinou.com/big/fune/index.html The bride's family also prepare the return gift--it can be gift money or items as a watch or a suit also are popular. The bride groom supposed to visit the bride's house with his parents to bring the betorothal money. My father and my mother were brought up at next doors, and the both family knew each other very well--so they thought they did not want the formal betrothal exchange. My father just went my mother's house to hand the betrothal money. He was wearing a pair of everyday geta, and he has been teased about that for many years. I guesss geta was too informal even though they knew each other very well. I will talk about the things brides had to bring with her. The tradition is very different according to each area and of course the tradition does not seem to exist anymore especially in the big cities, so it is so hard to tell what is the common way these days. In older times brides were supposed to bring chest with the drawers full of clothing. She had to bring Yogi, futon cover, yutan(the covering cloth with family crest which covers chest)and other things. She had to bring, many kimono including two sets of funeral kimono(both for summer and other seasons) homongi(semiformal), komon and so on. The big trucks with the back made by glass to show what the bride brought were actually seen until some years ago--of course the back of the truck decorated with wide red and white ribbons. The truck can never back up even though they take a wrong way. It is hated because it is `engigawarui'(ominous ) for brides. Traditional way of wedding is drastically decreased--the reasons are : it is too costly and also modern brides and bridegrooms prefer to have original style. Traditional weddings were costly. Nagoya area is famous for the gorgeous wedding and the avarage amount of money they used for one wedding was 9590.000yen($87200)but after the bubble economy has collapsed, the average amount became 7270000yen($68800). Nakodo(match makers), yuino(betorothal money), and yomeirijitaku (things brides bring)may become a dead language--younger people tend to ignore these tradition recently.

No37 -24 November 2003

Last week we sent two e-mails from us, which are to inform you our new 'Random Time List Sale' and Antique uchikake prices. We thought it might be a good idea to e-mail at the moment we add new items besides our usual update. Of course our weekly news mails are sent every weekends just as usual. In this mail I would like to write the continuation of last week's story of Yoshitsune. If you are not interested in this story, I am very sorry. But his lifestory is so famous that it is often made into various stories, TV dramas or movies, and also used as motifs of designs of kimono. Here is his Yoshitsune's story --- Kiyomori Taira ( who killed Yoshitsune's father) and his clan overloaded politics when Yoshitsune was in Hiraizumi, northern part of Japan. Emperor, aristocrats and warriors had intense grievance against Taira's tyranny. In 1180 Prince Mochihitoo sent Minamoto family's members the secret message to defeat Taira. But its was known by Kiyomori Taira, and prince Mochihitoo was killed by Taira. This, however, became a turning point, and Yoritomo Minamoto( elder brother of Yoshitsune, who were sent to Izu ) raised an army, and rapidly spread dominated area. Yoshitsune heard his brother's pingle, and run to Yoritomo's position with 300 soldiers. There was a reunion between the brothers (they were separated when Yoshitomo was 2 years old ) --They embraced each other and shed a lot of tears. Kiyomori Taira died from disease when he was 64 years old, but Yoritomo and his clan had to battle against Taira clan. Yoshitsune won three important battles, which are very famous, and often become the subject of stories and motif of picture. Yoritomo had another brother, and he wanted him to be a commander, but always it was Yoshitsune who was able to win the difficult battles. Battle of Ichinotani(1184)--- Taira clan was in the castle with a hundred thousand soldiers, and Yoshitsune had to attack with 65,000 soldiers. The castle was protected its back by precipitous bluff. Yoshitsune divided his soldiers, and while a troop attacked from front, Yoshitsune secretly ran down the bluff on the horse at the head of their soldiers. His soldiers were very afraid to run down, because it seemed to be impossible. The buff seems to be too precipitous for both horses and men, and then they saw a deer run dawn the bluff. There is a famous sentence which is considered to be Yoshitusne's words: If it was possible for a deer -why not for humans. When Yoshitsune and his soldiers run down the bluff, Taira clan were caught off-guard, and was routed. This military exploits made Yoshitsune a person in the spotlight. But brother Yoshitomo didn't authorize Yoshitsune's military exploits. If you found the picture, which is samurai on the horse are running down the precipitous bluff, it must be Yoshitsune in this battle. Battle of Dannoura(1185)--- Last battle against Taira, Minamoto's 840 battle ships against Taira's 500 battle ships. At first tide flew from Taira to Minamoto, and Taira's ship rode its tide and scooted arrows, and were dominant over Minamoto. Ships of Minamoto had to struggle to go against the tide. But Yoshitsune's tact turned the tables. Yoshitsune ordered to shoot boatmen of everything. Taira's ships lost their boatmen, and lost their way. Minamoto's soldiers took to the Taira's ship and attacked with swords. Some of the Taira clan threw themselves into the sea, some were shot and some were cut with swords. And the battle against Taira clan completely ended here. Before this battle, there were another famous battle - battle of Yashima, and Yoshitsune made sparkling military exploits also at this battle. We often find motifs which are dyed battle scene on the sea, which are seemed to be the scenes of these two battles. However, his brother Yoritomo didn't authorize Yoshitsune's military exploits finally. On the contrary Yoritomo ordered to kill Yoshitsune as a rebel. Yoshitsune's wife was caught by Yoritomo, and their baby were thrown into the sea. Yoshitsune killed himself at Oshu. He and his 10 followers were surround 500 soldiers of his brother Yoritomo. Among last 10 followers there was Benkei. He fought to death with halberd. He was shot many arrows in his body, and said to be died standing death. There was a strong bond between Yoshitune and Benkei since Benkei was defeated by Yoshitune--Yoshiturne was very young and was still called as `Ushiwakamaru'. Benkei devoted himself to Yoshitsune since then and was determined himself to protect Yoshitusne for a life time. When they knew their end was coming--Benkei told Yoshitune to wait at the corner where 6 after-death world( both celestial and nether regions )start and Yoshitune replied `I wish to see you after this world if possible, where there is no battles but heaven'. Benkei wanted to protect Yoshitsune as long as he could, so he was said that he died standing. Yoshitsune's life was a full of tragedy--with his beloved brother's betrayal and the parting with his most trustful man. He had to fight but his fate was cruel. Yoshitune is probably one of the most beloved character because of his tragic life. You know by now, both Oishi and Yoshitune are tragic figures and the loyal sentiment are highly appreciated by Japanese people. By now I am almost crying just introduicing this story...I need a Kleenex...excuse me.

No36 -17 November 2003

Here in Japan, it is getting cooler and cooler, and riding motorcycle at night is becoming a not so happy thing.( I always commute by small motorcycle. ) We are at the height of the fall foliage, and on weekend many people go to see the colorful autumn leaves. Here is the 'Autumn Tints Map'. http://www.excite.co.jp/season/autumn/ Japan map are colored by the degree of color. Green( not begin to turn red), red (the most admirable to look at), brown (ended ). We are in the middle of its map, so we are just at the height of autumn tints. This weekend, unfortunately our family doesn't have a time to go to see the autumn tints. So please enjoy these beautiful photos with me. http://www.gochomuseum.net/kouyou/list2.html http://www.gochomuseum.net/kouyou/list3.html As I wrote in the previous mail, I would like to write about Yoshitsune and Oishi Kuranosuke. In this mail I would like to write about Yoshitune. Yoshitsune Minamoto was born in 1159, and named Ushiwakamaru. His father was killed by Kiyomori Taira, who was the substantive ruler then. His mother is Tokiwa and she had three children and Yoshitsune is the youngest. Kiyomori was going to kill Tokiwa and three children to avoid the reprisal. Tokiwa hid in Nara district with three children, but Tokiwa's mother was caught by Kiyomori. Tokiwa couldn't abandon her mother, and went to see Kiyomori, and asked for leave. Tokiwa was exceptionally beautiful lady, and said to be compared favorably with Yangguifei. She was the servant of the Empress, and one who selected as most beautiful lady among a thousand beautiful servants, who were all selected all over Japan. Kiyomori allowed Tokiwa's mother and children in exchange Tokiwa becoming his lady. Yoshitsune was sent to a temple, and was raised there. He studied hard everyday. When he was at sixteen years old, he was said that his father was killed by Kiyomori Taira, and his elder brother Yoritomo was also sent to Izu. At that time he also became to know his origins of Minamoto with many tale of heroism. Yoshitsune made up his mind to defeat Kiyomori Taira, and trained mistral arts more harder. He trained in the temple of deep mountain at the midnight, and was said to wield a Japanese sword against the evil spirits of the mountains and rivers. At this time there is a famous anecdote of the meeting with Benkei. --- One night Yoshitsune was walking across the Gojyo bridge(in Kyoto) with playing the flute , Benkei bared Yoshitsune's way with halberd. Benkei said ' I won 999 sword here. Hand your sword , which will be 1000th.' Yoshitsune ignored Benkei, and was going to walk through. Benkei wielded his halberd, but Yoshitsune jumped up to the handrail of the bridge. Benkei wielded again and again, but every time Yoshitune flew and Benkei could not caught him. Benkei exhausted and finally fell down. Benkei abandoned 1000th swords, and became a follower of Yoshitsune over the course of his life. This anecdote is very famous, and at first I heard it from my mother. Especially boys born pre WWII, Yoshitsune had to be the first and most important hero. We often see the pattern from this anecdote in the lining of haori, and in the boy's miyamairi kimono. Almost all of them we listed our site were sold, but best item remain here. http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=55632 The pattern of this particular haori lining is artistic and exceptionally vivid, isn't it? Later Yoshitsune won many difficult battles, and defeated Kiyomori Taira. But in spite of his brilliant military exploits Yoshitsune's life ended in tragedy. Its story makes Yoshitsune very popular hero. But it is too long to write in one news letter. I would like to write a little bit at a time, among the kimono and Japanese textile themes. We are very sorry for the trouble about message board for long time. We restart message board with 'Daikan' san's help. Please join and enjoy the message board. http://ichiroya.proboards.com/

No35 -10 November 2003

Today is the day of nationwide election, so we are going to vote at evening. We Japanese are in the sense of stagnation, because of long time depression, deteriorating security and uncertainty about the future. Especially sharp decline in the number of births induce the serious problem of public pension. Nowadays so many young people don't pay national pension premiums, because they can not convince that they will getnational pension after they retire. Government finally has started totelevise the public advertising to persuade young people to pay the premiums, which uses a popular actress. Pension problem is one of the dominant campaign issue. I went to Nagoya this morning, and got several supreme vintage uchikake. We are going to list them within a few days. We wish you would like them.Today I am going to write about a little about 'samurai'. Of course there doesn't remain samurai with Japanese sword and topknot in Japan.Only sumo wrestlers do up their hair in topknot, and no one is allowed to bring Japanese sword. To describe what samurai is in short is impossible but if we could say in very short, they are extremely stoic and live for the fidelity to their lord--as you know they would not care to shed their blood for the lord. As you imagine, in TV drama, cinema, comics and play samurai stories are popular here. It may be very similar to the cowboy pictures in USA. Our daughter Shoko, she is a high school girl, did cusume play at their campus festival, and she wrote the playscript and acted minor part in it. We proudly contributed many kimono and hakama to their classmates. (We went to see the play of course--the story seemed a little bit complicated,but we enjoyed the enthusiasm of youth and found the students enjoyingplaying very much.)In general, samurai drama are fully made fictionally, and made as pure entertainment.On the other hand, there are some very famous 'samurai' characters, who often become central characters of dramas. How many characters do you know among the list below? a, Yoshitsune Minamoto b, Musashi Miyamoto c, Kenshin Uesugi d, Nobunaga Oda e, Hideyoshi Toyotomi f, Kuranosuke Oishi (Chushingura) g, Isamu Kondo ( Shinsengumi ) b, Musashi Miyamoto - Noted swordsman, author of 'Gorin no sho' (1584? -1645). He is thought to be the strongest swordsman in history. He won 60duels, during 13 to 29 years old. He use two swords ' Nitouryu' at the battle. His 'Gorin no sho' have been read as the book of maxim, as much as the swordsmanship. c, Kenshin Uesugi, Lord of Echigo (1530 - 1578). He is thought to be thevery stoic man, and one of the most strong and brave military commander. The battle of Kawanakajima, war against Shingen Takeda is the one of themost famous battle in history. d, Nobunaga Oda - Daimyo of Owari and the first of the "Three Unifiers" (1534- 1582). He is thought to be the one of the most innovative daimyo. He was an eccentric young gay, and followings of his father characterized him as an out-and-out fool. But he used firearms systematically, which were just came to Japan, and won many battles. e, Hideyoshi Toyotomi, Unifier of Japan, Kampaku (1536 - 1598). He was the son of the poor of farmer, and became the follower of Nobunaga Oda,and finally became the Unifuier of Japan. His success story is often quoted in business stories. He has many anecdotes, and famous one is 'in cold winter morning he heated his boss Nobunaga's straw sandals with his bosom in kimono. g, Isamu Kondo, Leader of Shinsengumi (1834? - 1868 ). He was the leader of Kyoto Police at the end period of Edo Goverment. He didn't have broad outlook and foresight, but his one-track way of allegiance to Shogun attract many people. I have found informative samurai page in English. http://www.samurai-archives.com/index.html You can read more stories about some samurai above.I omitted the discription of Yoshitsune Minamoto and Kuranosuke Oishi,because these two persons are very often become the motif of kimono, and has a little bit long story I want to write. They are both heros of tragedy and symbol of samurai, and have dramatic scenes in their stories.Every December, there are the plays and drams to commemorate the tragedyof Chusingura--the story of undying fidelity. I would like to write about them in the next news letters.

No34 -7 November 2003

Hello from Japan! This is Kimono Flea Market Ichiroya's News Letter. Autumn is deepening--this is a Japanese expression but we hope you know what I mean--and cosmos flowers(Mexican aster)are blooming in autumn breeze. Today is Sunday, and our online shop is closed. I ( Ichiro ) went to Toji Temple Market in Kyoto today after a long time interval. As I wrote in past news letter, the big temple sales are held on 21 and 25 every month. And on the first Sunday of every month, a little smaller temple sale is held in Toji Temple in Kyoto. The number of the shops are approximately a half compared with the other larger two markets, but almost all major kimono sellers open shops there. I woke up at four in the morning, and did high-speed drive to Kyoto. I would like you to come with me to the market and walk with me in a temple compound in early chilly morning. At five in the morning, ( it is still dark), the gate of the temple is opened. Cars of the shopkeepers and shoppers drive into the temple, and shopkeepers start building their handy shops. Some shoppers stand aside and wait before the particular shops for the timing they allow to look for their favorites. Bundles of the kimono, which are tied with bonds, are thrown down from shopkeepers cars, and suddenly the shopping time starts. Almost every shoppers have electric torch, and put a light to torch at the side of the bundles, and rush to check the items in silent. If shoppers pick out the items they want, they draw out from the bundles and put them aside. And without careful check, shoppers go back to check other items. After they pick up their favorites, they ask the shopkeeper to hold them, and hurry to other shops. Almost those shoppers gathering in particular shops are familiar faces each other. Almost all of them are kimono shop owners, and we see each other in kimono dealers auctions too. There opened many shops, but only several shops are 'Ubudashi-ya-san', and these shops sell their kimono at cheaper prices than other shops. So at these several shops, kimono shop owners gather at first. 'Ubudashi' means ' buying kimono from ordinary people' ( - especially not from other kimono dealers ). Some kimono are too expensive for ordinary kimono fans, and they only go around within the kimono dealers. But the kimono of 'Ubudashi' comes to second hand kimono market for the first time, they don't have the kimono-dealers-price yet. So sometimes some of them are very rare kimono, and some are very cheap compared with the kimono dealers auction price. Ubudashi-ya-san are most of the cases very busy concentrating on collecting items from ordinary people and seems not to have enough time to research the current market price well. If you come to these temple market, you had better come very early in the morning, with a flash light. But it may be difficult to compete with Japanese kimono shop owners. If you could find me or blonde haired man( Ryujiro - our wonderful friend and a rival ) , you could ask us which shops are Ubudashi. We may tell the wrong shops or already bought shops ---- just a joke. I promise to give you a good advise. Now I must write about a recent big change regarding these temple market. Only a year or two years ago, we could buy many kimono at very moderate price from ubudashi-ya-san. However, these days almost all ubudashi-ya-san sell their good kimono at kimono dealers auction. As I wrote in past news letter, the prices of the kimono dealers auctions often become far higher than retail prices.n a few years ago, some kimono dealers bought many kimono from ubudashi-ya-san, and sold them at kimono dealers auctions, and gained huge profit in a blink of an eye. These days the retail sale is not good, but the kimono dealers auctions are exciting. These days Ubudashi-ya-san sell their best kimono at kimono dealers auction, and gain the deserving profit. So shop owners who gather before the ubudashi-ya-san's shop in the dawn become less than before. I also become very rare to go these temple markets. Today I could only buy 10-20 items, and didn't get some special kimono but fortunately, I could obtain beautiful Japanese papers from familiar ubudahi-ya-s