INFLUENCES影響
I wore a wool kimono in my elementary school days, that was sewn by my grand mother. I wore it at New Year and for some reason I remember going to the doctor in it. I think my family thought it would be easy to put the stethoscope on my chest. In my 20s I wanted to learn to wear a yukata, so I went to the kitsuke school. There was no kimono around me, in my environment, so I thought it was natural to go to lessons to learn it. There were very few people wearing kimono as casual clothes in those days. If one wore kimono at that time, people thought you were going to a special occasion, or you were involved in some special kind of work, so although I went to lessons, I didn’t actually wear it much because of that. When I went to kimono lessons again in my 40s, it was different. There were lots of people around wearing kimono in a casual and fun way. I’ve been learning for ten years now. I first learned to dress myself, and now I’m learning how to dress others. The lessons are once or twice a month and it’s a good chance for me to wear kimono, meet with like-minded people and enjoy talking with them and my teacher. I often buy the magazines Utsukushii Kimono and Nanaoh. I like just looking at them, but also I get information about coordination, colour coordination, TPO rules, and where to buy kimono. Its usually thought of a negative thing to be an older woman in Japan, but kimono can show the beauty of women at all ages and levels of maturity. When I wear it people treat me as special and that makes me feel that I am special as a woman.

小学生の頃は祖母が仕立てたウールの着物を着ていました。お正月にも着ていましたが、なぜか病院に連れて行かれる時にも着物を着せられました。おそらく胸に聴診器を当てやすいと考えたのだと思います。２０代で浴衣が着たくなり着付け教室に通いました。着物が身近な存在ではなかったので知らないことは習いに行くものだと思っていました。当時は着物を普段に着ている人をほとんど見かけなかったと思います。着物を着ていると何か特別な予定があるか、特別な職業だと思われてしまう雰囲気があり、習っても着る機会があまりありませんでした。４０代になり、再度着付け教室に行き始めました。世の中が気楽にカジュアル着物を着られる雰囲気になっていました。
そのまま着付け教室に１０年ほど通っています。はじめは自装でしたが今は他装を学んでいます。教室は月に１～２回ですがその日を着物を着る機会ととらえ、同じ興味を持つ仲間や先生と集まり話したり情報交換をするのを楽しみにしています。
雑誌の「美しいキモノ」と「七緒」よく購入して読んでいます。雑誌は眺めるだけでも好きですが、コーデイネートや色合わせ、ＴＰＯや買い方のアドバイスを参考にしています。
日本では女性は年齢を重ねることをマイナスととらえがちですが、着物は女性の年齢に応じた美しさや成熟の美しさを実感させてくれます。着物を着ると周囲が大切に扱ってくれるのを感じ、そのことによって私も女性としての自分を大切にしようという意識が働きます。