鈴木キチ子（新潟）

About this photo

The name under the photo reads "Suzuki Kichiko (Niigata)." A white collar shows at her neck, and she is photographed down to about her obi. Her kimono has a pattern that looks like fine dots scattered all over, and her obi has white flower-like motifs on a dark ground. She is one of the women in Nihon Bijincho (Album of Japanese Beauties, 1908).

Only the front of the obi is shown, so we cannot tell how it is tied at the back. The otaiko knot, now the standard way of tying an obi, is said to have begun in 1817, in the Edo period, when the taikobashi (drum bridge) at Kameido Tenjin shrine was rebuilt. According to the story, geisha from Fukagawa who were invited to the first crossing of the new bridge all appeared with a new way of tying their obi, and it became the talk of the town.

The otaiko as it is tied today, held in shape with an obimakura (a small pad), an obiage (a sash) and an obijime (a cord), spread from the Meiji to the Taisho era.

Glossary