missmyloko:It’s that time of year! The Gion Festival (祇園祭) is upon us, and so is the unique ka

missmyloko:

It’s that time of year! The Gion Festival (祇園祭) is upon us, and so is the unique kanzashi set that are made anew each year! I am absolutely IN LOVE with 2018′s design as it features some themes that haven’t been seen in a very long time!

The most obvious are Fireworks (Hanabi - 花火) in bright colors with glittering rhinestones! Bold colors, like red and yellow, are used for juniors while soft colors, like purple and blue, are used for seniors. Both junior and senior maiko have pink fireworks to tie them together! Floating below them are Water in the form of Streams (Kawa - 川). Fireworks are often set off along the edges of rivers so that they can catch the reflections in the water. Finally, these two motifs sit on a bed of bright blue and white (for seniors) and blue and pink (for juniors) Clematis (Tessen - 鉄線). Since the Katsuyama piece only features the two main motifs it has the fireworks and stream motifs with silver butterflies and silver cherry blossoms. Most importantly, the katsuyama piece features the extremely traditional Egret Feathers (Sagi No Ha - 鷺の羽) that have been present in the katsuyama pieces of maiko Gion Festival kanzashi for over a century. They used to be sourced from the egrets that dot the Kamo River, but they have since been outsourced so as to not let them go extinct.

All maiko in all five kagai will be wearing these kanzashi from July 10th to 24th^^

Images are courtesy of Kyo Hanamachi Kawamura, who are the owners of the Kawahisa (川久) okiya in Miyagawa Cho, and geiko Toshimana. Maiko Kanako (叶子) of Kawahisa (川久) is the model for the senior set and Toshinana (とし七菜) of Komaya (駒屋) is the model for junior set.