Last night, after my shower, I slipped on my old yukata. This is not the fancy dress yukata seen this time of year at bon odori. It's the kind of cheap, loose-weave cotton bathrobe that is laid out on your bed at fancy Japanese hotels, or is worn at onsen resorts like Beppu by tourists as they walk from bath house to bath house.
I haven't worn my yukata at all this summer. Nor last summer. Maybe I'm finally getting away from my Japan acquired habits, but lately I've been lounging in soft cotton pajamas instead.
I had forgotten how loose, cool and comfortable yukata are! A delight to the senses. All night long I dreamed dreams of wearing yukata. I'd dream I was going to work or to school in my yukata and people would look at me like I was crazy and ask "Why are you wearing that?" I felt a little awkward and then decided I didn't care. So, I just smiled and said, "Because it feels wonderful."
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Posted by M Sinclair Stevens
August 15, 2003
Comments
Your post made me think of something I saw while visiting Shanghai a couple of years ago. This phenomena is much better described in this article I googled for (in haste): http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2002/09/15/f122.raw.html
Comment by: Sepia. Posted August 21, 2003 09:14 AM.
Thanks for the link. That's a really interesting article. It reminded me a little of what Bill Holm wrote in his "Underwear" chapter of Coming Home Crazy "Sheer skirts and filmy see-through nylon were high fashion for Chinese women. It was sweetly comic to watch the exposed underwear on pretty Chinese girls bicycling languidly through the streets. Chinese women are extremely modest. The exposed underwear thumbed its nose at you as if saying, 'I am covered, quite decent and practical. What you see, and what you choose to make of it, is your own business'."
Comment by: M. Posted August 21, 2003 07:16 PM.
Hmmmm, I have dreams like this all the time! I love yukata so much, its a little perverse. Say, if you have any photos of yukata and kimono you'd like to share with the world, I'm in the middle of a project called "Kimono Philes" - you can visit the page here - http://www.35degrees.com/PhotoPages/kimono_philes.html Like the blog - keep 'em coming! Kinki
Comment by: Kinki. Posted September 21, 2003 03:12 PM.
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Summer dreams, yukata nights.