Samurai Gear: Special Occasions Call for Special Clothing

The next few posts will outline some of the essential clothing and "gear" that we've been collecting for Peri to use throughout the day. As "both hands" will be represented throughout the day, each hand will require its own attire. Below is a basic description of the core essentials of each:

Courtly (Right Hand) - Bushi women would have worn layered robes (depending upon the occasion, season and other factors) for everyday wear, and while certain occasions (such as weddings or Feudal Court) would have layered as many as 16 such robes, standard dress had as few as 2. In addition, a few other essentials such as footwear and basic effects were also considered "standard" as defined below (note: the little girl pictured here is not Peri, but is the general effect that we're shooting for).

* Kimono - an outer robe, often with beautiful print or patterns.

* Obi -a wide sash or belt designed to keep the kimono from opening.

* Kanzashi - a beautiful hair pin or comb designed to keep their hair in place.

* Geta - wooden "flip flop" style shoes.

* Fan - a common folding fan for keeping cool during hot Japanese summers.

Peri will wear this attire for General Culture, Kanji-writing and Language and Tea Ceremony. Also, i feel obligated (hey... if you know me, you'll get why) to mention that Bushi women also carried an 8" dirk called a kaiken on their person at all times. It served as a close-quarters defensive weapon much the same as their male counterpart's waikizashi (short sword), and they were trained to be exceptionally effective in its use and deployment. For obvious reasons, Peri will not be carrying a kaiken... but... you know... i was sort of tempted.

Warrior/Budo (Left Hand) -While Bushi women would most likely not have worn the outfit that you see in the picture here, it is the traditional attire of Japanese martial arts practitioners today. Variations may include hakama ("wide legged trousers" often seen in samurai movies or among Aikido and Kendo practitioners) or special patches, belts or ornaments, but in general, the outfit is designed to be simple, efficient and allow for the maximum amount of movement for the practitioner. It consists of the following two primary components:

* Gi -In Japanese and Okinawan arts, the robe-style top and standard pants bottoms are called a gi. They are usually light and flexible (unless wearing a Judo or Jujutsu variation which is often a bit heavier due to the grappling nature of the art), and the top closes left-over-right like a common robe.

* Obi - the simple "belt" worn around the waist of the gi, this is the item that is often colored according to rank in traditional martial systems. While many American systems of martial arts offer dozens of different belt-rankings, most traditional Japanese systems offer five (white, blue, green, brown, black) or so, and take more than two decades to acquire a Shodan level (1st degree) black belt.

Peri will wear this outfit for all of the Budo (i.e. literally "Warrior Way") training, whether with weapons (i.e. Iado/Kenjutsu) or without (i.e. Jujutsu). More on those later.