Japanese Festival

For my visitor's last day in Japan, I had heard about a local Japanese Festival that was in Yokosuka.  This meant that I could just drive to base, park, and we could walk around without stressing out on their last day here.  The purpose of the festival was to educate foreigners, specifically Americans, about the history of the Yokosuka area as well as some of the local traditions.  Our first stop were these ladies who handmade mobiles.  They were all little cloth figures, each which had meaning.  They were amazing, but not for sale here, so I'm just going to have to keep my eyes open.  

Next, we were on to the music lessons.  They tried to teach us Japanese Taisyo-Goto, which is considered the Japanese harp.  It really sounded awful, and not just because I was a beginner.  The high pitched twang about drove me to insanity.  It was interesting, because it had strings and buttons to affect the sound by changing notes to sharps and flats.  We wore these super cool fingernail extensions to use like picks.  

Here we are, moving on to our next music lesson on the Shamisen.  It is a three-stringed instrument, similar to a guitar.  The sound is made from the animal skin which is stretched out over the hollow wood, behind the strings.  To play this, we used a guitar pick, as they called it.  I would call it more of an ice scraper.  You can see it in the pictures below.  I have to admit though, I think it was much easier to use than a regular guitar pick.  

After the lessons, I was ready get serious...samurai serious.  All I did was walk in the door of the gym and the men grabbed me up and had me dressed in three seconds flat.  It was a big mistake when they gave me my weapon...I was worried about starting an international incident, but this guy insisted.  

I am fierce!

Next, they roped Latham and Harold into the costumes too.  They look much more the part than I do.  

Now Ruth is getting in on the action...wait...why is it three against one?!

After getting my ninja on, I insisted that we dress up in traditional kimono.  I had been wanting to do this for a really long time, so the fact that we all could do it together, really was special.  They took us into a huge room, where we stripped down in front of everyone.  They start with the traditional cotton undergarments to wrap us up.  They bind us really tight around the waist and breasts, in order to make everything look flat and straight up and down.  In other words, they don't want any curves...especially breasts or hips.  The entire wrap up took about 30 minutes.  There are tons of layers beneath all this beauty.  After the binding, there was an apron type thing, and then a wrap over that.  Finally came the kimono with the obi wrapped around my waist and tied in the back.  

After the women dressed us, they took us to the hair styling station, where it took another half hour.  I was thoroughly impressed with these volunteers who took the time to make all us geijin (foreigners) beautiful.  Honestly, I have never felt so magnificent.  I thought it felt great to be wrapped tightly and to walk demurely.  Now, keep me in that for a couple hours, and I might change my mind.  

I walked out of the dressing area, and many Japanese were stunned.  Apparently, they've never seen a white girl look so good in kimono!  So, I had my five minutes of fame as they were all taking my picture and asking me to pose for them.  They even grabbed me and insisted that I put on the wedding kimono over the top of the one I was wearing.  Boy, it was heavy, but stunning.

Here are the three of us in all our glory.  I was initially worried about the color of my kimono, but in the pictures, we each have one that beautifully compliments our tones.  It was a wonderful experience to share with my Mom and Ruth.  If it didn't take a team of women to help me get dressed in one, I might have actually bought one since I felt so pretty while wearing it.  But, there's no way I could do that on my own...I'm lucky I can get a robe tied correctly.