PROFILE プロフィール
Chikako is in the 55-65 age group. She comes from Sendai and moved to Tokyo on her marriage. She has lived half her life in Sendai, and half in Tokyo. She does not work now, but she has experience of working in a wedding and event business doing kimono dressing. She enjoys Japanese dance as well as wearing kimono, which she started to do in her 20s.
Chikako’s mother only wore kimono on special occasions, but she did a little kimono sewing and also did a little business of selling kimono, so there were always kimono around the house. When Chikako was in her mid 20s, her mother became interested in wearing kimono. So her mother and mother’s friends began going to a teacher’s house and learning dressing and having tea together there. Then the daughters, including Chikako also formed a group to go and learn dressing. There came to be a mother team and daughter team of about 5 or 6 friends. Chikako wasn’t so interested in the kimono itself, she was just interested in mastering the process. However, she continued with it, and went ahead and took her dresser’s license. Then she joined a team of advanced learners and they began to do more advanced study, and the teacher also began to teach them Japanese dance. She used her kimono license when she got married and came to Tokyo. She had some jobs dressing girls for coming of age, and also for Hanayome (bridal) magazine. She said that she had to learn on the job and it really improved her dressing skills. Now she wears kimono about 3 times a week and she has made a small kimono club, where members meet to talk and eat sweets and drink tea together in a local hall. She is interested in spreading kimono knowledge with her club and by planning small kimono fashion shows.
Her mother-in-law gave her kimono in the complete kimono chest, 20 years ago, but Chikako had not used them. She opened it once, last year, when her mother-in-law passed away, and she wanted to find one to bury her in. Apart from that she has not touched the chest, and it still contains her mother-in-law’s and her mother-in-law’s daughter’s kimono. Her daughter liked kimono and had a lot. Her collection consists of 96 kimono, of a great variety of types. A third are dyed kimono: homongi, tsukesage, and komon, a quarter are polyester, and she has around ten tsumugi and ten summer kimono. She also has some unusual items, such as kimono cut for dancing men’s roles, furisode, and uchikake.
千賀子さんは５５−６４歳の年齢のグループ、仙台で生まれ育ち、結婚の際に東京に移りました。人生の半分を仙台、半分を東京で過ごしています。現在はお仕事はされていませんが、以前は結婚式場で着付け師の仕事をしていました。着物を着るのも日本舞踊もお好きです。着物は２０代から着始めました。千賀子さんのお母さまは特別な機会には着物を着ていました。時々着物をお母様の手で仕立てることもあれば、販売することもあり、家の中にはいつも着物がある生活でした。千賀子さんが２０代の時、お母さまが着物に興味を持ち、お友達と着付けの先生のお宅で着付けの勉強をしたり、お茶を飲んだりしていました。その後、今度は千賀子さんを含むその娘たちも同じ先生に習いに行くようになり、それぞれ５～６人の母チームと娘チームができました。千賀子さんは着物そのものよりも着付けのプロセスをマスターする方が面白しく、お稽古を続け、着付けの免許を修得しました。その後上級者クラスに入り、さらに高度な着付けと踊りを始めました。３０年前、結婚して東京に移った際、この免許を使って仕事をしました。成人式の着付けとブライダルの雑誌のための着付けでした。仕事をすることでさらに腕を磨くことにもなりました。
現在は週に３日ほど着物を着ています。着物クラブを作り、近くのホールで、着物好きな女性と集まり、話しをしたり、お茶を飲んだりしています。そのグループで着物を広めることを考えたり、ファションショーを計画したりしています。２０年前、義理のお母様の着物をタンスごといただきましたが、ほとんど着ていません。去年、義理のお母様が亡くなった時に一度タンスを開け、義理のお母様に着せて送り出すための着物を選びました。今も義理のお母さまの着物はそのままタンスに入っています。
千賀子さんの所有する着物は９６枚。およそ３分の１が訪問着や付下げ、小紋などの柔らかもの、４分の１がポリエステル、１０枚ほどの紬と１０枚ほどの夏着物をお持ちです。他に踊りの男役用の着物や振袖、打ち掛けなどもお持ちです。