One day I asked myself “If there was a maiko from Poland what would she wear as kanzashi?”.
And this is how this maiko-inspired kanzashi came to be! I asked Mary from Geisha-kai the same question, and she suggested the forget-me-not flowers as a base. I initially wanted to make two cut-paper roosters, a popular motif in traditional Polish folk art, but decided a stork would be more elegant.
As the design goes, the first that came to my mind are poppies (poppies are on the way as another project soon, though!). I have decided to make the forget-me-not first. I wanted to make something using traditional materials and techniques. I hand-dyed the silk. I used rice glue and this time I had the board and a bamboo spatula, which I got as a gift some time ago. I forgot how fun rice glue is! This technique is wonderfully frustrating at times, but it’s very rewarding and produces beautiful results.
I toyed with the idea of a stork and a sun (which came out looking like a golden moon), two storks, but in the end, I decided the base bouquet was busy enough and kept one. Maybe twin storks next time?
If you could have your own national maiko kanzashi from your own country what would it be [and yes, I am shamelessly fishing for inspiration and ideas]!
The first maiko kanzashi of 2023 is here! One of the most unique designs of the Komaya okiya, it was worn by maiko Toshinaho of the Komaya house in Miyagawacho a little over a year ago. According to Mary from the GeishaKai blog Komaya is one of the best houses in the whole city. She has had the pleasure of meeting Toshinaho, and you can read about Toshinaho and Mary’s experience of meeting her HERE.
I wanted to start my new journey into maiko kanzashi with something relatively simple but striking. My choice of this piece was a quick one. I fell in love with the design when I saw it on Instagram (see the original photo HERE – image by HicoCD).
The kanzashi is relatively simplistic, with few elements. This meant I could not get away even with small errors. Usually, in a large, busy work I can get away with a few crooked petals or a drop of glue which isn’t where it’s supposed to be. Not in this case! The small number of elements meant I had to get everything perfect. The leaves are made with two tones of green silk, and for the flowers I used a soft yellow-orange silk with silver thread woven into it. While not in the original design, I found this silk not only the perfect colour but the silver complimenting the silver wires of the leaves. I’ve also made the decorative wires from scratch using silver Nishijin embroidery thread.
You probably wonder at this point why I haven’t told you the motif of the kaznashi. The answer is I’m still a bit conflicted as to what it represents, though I have a very good guess. According to Missmyloko’s blog, it’s hollyhock – see her post about it. While she is very knowledgeable about geiko-related topics, I’m not sure I can agree with her on that one particular design identification. The size, shape and colour of the flowers represented on the kanzashi didn’t strike me as typical hollyhock. Hollyhock does have a very similar leaf shape, but the positioning of the flowers, their shape and colour and the style of the stamen are very different from hollyhock.
According to MissMyloko, the kanzashi represents the Tokugawa family crest. The wirework is almost identical to the mon. Yet, after a little digging, I found out that the plant we see represented in the Tokugawa mon is not hollyhock, but aoi which belongs to the birthwort family and translates as “wild ginger” – Asarum. Asarum doesn’t have small orange flowers, as you can see in the photo below.
Under the original photo, one of the commenters suggested the kanzashi represents a species of violet, Viola pubescens. After looking at some photos of this adorable little flower, I agree it fits the kanzashi very well. The leaves are the right shape, and the small yellow flowers with five petals are a better match than hollyhock or aoi.
Another candidate is marsh-marigold or ryukinka (scientific name: Caltha palustris var. Nipponica). Thank you to Kruliczyca_bloguje for the suggestion! Ryukinka flowers between April and August which would align with when Toshinaho wore it. The size and shape of the flowers fit too! I believe this is an excellent candidate for the identity of the Komaya Kanzashi. See for yourself!
Wisteria Gardens 