At the Nakasendo Museum in Gifu with owners / curators, Mr & Mrs. Oguri. Mr. Oguri is interested in Kabuki as well as Samurai arms and armor, while his wife is a specialist on Kabuki costumes and handles restoration work on their extensive collection.
Mrs. Oguri helped me into an antique quilted Kabuki costume...
It's over 150 years old, and weighs about 7 or 8 kilos....
Delicately, and heavily embroidered in gold and silver threads, this particular piece depicts a dragon hovering over a tiger. The detail and craftsmanship is exquisite!
The museums collection is being photographed for cataloging, and at the same time Mrs Oguri is fronting a video explaining the pieces in detail. A lot of the background stories regarding these costumes is amazing. The Kabuki presenters of the time would often weave in scandalous tales of the samurai into the stories, and hide the identity of those involved in the story in the costumes themselves, such as placing patterns of bamboo and 3 sparrows on a kimono to represent the crest of a famous family. Kabuki patrons at the time would try to figure out who' the family involved was. It was in a way, like backyard gossip, only more entertaining.
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