大阪紀の庄 千代鶴

About this photo

In the photo album Kyoto Osaka Imayo Bijin Fuzoku (Beauties of Today in Kyoto and Osaka, 1903), this is a photo in which the ornament on her obi catches the eye. Wearing a kimono with thin stripes, she sits on a chair holding a half-open fan. Fastened near the top of her obi is a small ornament. The name under the photo reads "Osaka Kinosho, Chiyozuru," and whether "Kinosho" is a place name or the name of a house is not known.

Could the obi ornament be an obidome? It is attached to the obijime cord to decorate the front of the obi, and from the end of the Edo period into the early Meiji era it was in fashion among geisha. When the Haitorei (Sword Abolition Edict) of 1876 (Meiji 9) made swords unnecessary, remaking sword fittings into obidome became common, and craftsmen who had made sword fittings became obidome makers too. From around 1892 (Meiji 25), the type threaded onto a cord, as today, came into wide use.

Glossary