Japanese Vintage Hair Accessories

It is much longer than I expected for me to figure out what are vintage in Japan.  I went to museum and interviewed 70s and 80s years-old people what they had when they were children.  But I found out what I believed vintage were actually “antique” or “retro”.

 Vintage is roughly 50 to 100 years ago from now. 100 years ago Japanese people wore Kimono (traditional cloth) everyday, children went to school in Kimono and people worked in Kimono.  60 years ago washing machines were too expensive and clothes were washed still by hand at home. Those are hard to imagine considering current Japanese in comfortable clothes and nowadays Japan with technologies.  People whom I interviewed said, “we were poor because of war, we did not have anything”.  No fancy things, people still wore kimono…..  This Challenge seemed dead end to me. 

Even most of Japanese people were poor 50 to 100 years ago, there were some rich people and they wanted to put some accessories on their long dark hair.  Not many but some luxurious things were made for those people.

 1.  Kanzashi of wood:    This unique carving is called Kamakurabori.  But they are for trays, wooden box and some big things.  They are not for small things like hair accessory.  Since the carving is really beautiful, I made Kamakurabori-like Kanzashi with royal icing. Following is Kamakurabori.  https://www.kamakurabori-kougeikan.jp/

2.  Kanzashi of tortoise shell:   Crane and tortoise are symbols of longevity in Japan.  This is for celebration.

3.  Kanzashi of black lacquering wood and pink shell:   Japanese people love differences of seasons.  People changed Kanzashi according to seasons.  This kanzashi is for spring

4.  Kanzashi of bamboo:  I guess Kanzashi was luxurious things at that time and during wars it was said that “luxury is our enemy” but people wanted to have something nice. That made me imagine there were kanzashi made of bamboo.  Knotted part is made of fondant. 

5. Kanzashi of silver:   I made 6 flowers with royal icing, put silver color and after it dried completely I put some edible black bamboo charcoal powder

Black and brown powder were put on those cookies to make them look “vintage”

 All of them are my original designs. 

 As you know, we modern Japanese do not wear Kimono daily and we do not get our hair done for Kimono style.  Unfortunately those beautiful Kanzashi are made less and less in Japan. 

So beautiful! Thank you for all the descriptions of your process and the history.

Aproned Artist posted:

So beautiful! Thank you for all the descriptions of your process and the history.

Thank you for liking my cookies and leaving a comment 

Really amazing set!!!! LOVE 😍😍😍

Beautiful, they look real!

These are unique and beautifully done.  

Evelindecora posted:

Really amazing set!!!! LOVE 😍😍😍

Thank you, Evelin.  

Manu posted:

Beautiful, they look real!

Hi Manu.  I was wondering whether I could express our traditional things.  I am glad that I did not break them while I was decorating.  

Tina at Sugar Wishes posted:

These are unique and beautifully done.  

Thank you, Tina! 

Amazing! Elegant! These look so real. 

SusieQCookies posted:

Amazing! Elegant! These look so real. 

Thank you for your comment, I am very glad. 

Oh, Ryoko, these are fantastic!!! The most beautiful hair accessories I've seen...and the sweetest )) I just loooooove this set!

Wow @Ryoko ~Cookie Ave., these are so beautifully done! I love the history of each hair decoration and your explanation is so clear that I can visualize Japanese women using these ornaments in their hair. Must have been a beautiful sight!! Your creativity and love of culture shine through in your work!!! Absolutely gorgeous work, as always !

carouselselsel posted:

Oh, Ryoko, these are fantastic!!! The most beautiful hair accessories I've seen...and the sweetest )) I just loooooove this set!

Thank you, Zara.  These are my designs but the real ones are extraordinary beautiful. 

Cookies Fantastique by Carol posted:

Wow @Ryoko ~Cookie Ave., these are so beautifully done! I love the ingenuity of the hair accessories and you've decorated these cookies incredibly well . Awesome work, as always

Thank you, thank you Carol.

Beautiful!!!

Biljana Kovacevic posted:

Beautiful!!!

Thank you so much. 

Oh, wow, Ryoko! What an awesome set. Love all of them, but that turtle shell on is totally gorgeous! You keep out doing yourself! ❤️❤️❤️

swissophie posted:

Oh, wow, Ryoko! What an awesome set. Love all of them, but that turtle shell on is totally gorgeous! You keep out doing yourself! ❤️❤️❤️

The theme, "vintage" was really difficult.  The more I tried to find out what is Vintage in Japan, the more I got confused.   I just saw my mother's Kanzashi (hair accessory for Kimono) but her hair is too short for that.  It is very ironic.   I am glad I could introduce some of our culture here.  

Ryoko ~Cookie Ave. posted:

swissophie posted:

Oh, wow, Ryoko! What an awesome set. Love all of them, but that turtle shell on is totally gorgeous! You keep out doing yourself! ❤️❤️❤️

The theme, "vintage" was really difficult.  The more I tried to find out what is Vintage in Japan, the more I got confused.   I just saw my mother's Kanzashi (hair accessory for Kimono) but her hair is too short for that.  It is very ironic.   I am glad I could introduce some of our culture here.  

Always love to read your stories and explanations, Ryoko❤️!

swissophie posted:

Ryoko ~Cookie Ave. posted:

swissophie posted:

Oh, wow, Ryoko! What an awesome set. Love all of them, but that turtle shell on is totally gorgeous! You keep out doing yourself! ❤️❤️❤️

The theme, "vintage" was really difficult.  The more I tried to find out what is Vintage in Japan, the more I got confused.   I just saw my mother's Kanzashi (hair accessory for Kimono) but her hair is too short for that.  It is very ironic.   I am glad I could introduce some of our culture here.  

Always love to read your stories and explanations, Ryoko❤️!

Thank you for reading what I wrote, I really appreciate it, you know it is hard even for me to re-read what I wrote.  

Lovely set!!

Cool Sweets posted:

Lovely set!!

Thank you

Exquisite Ryoko!

Carol-Anne posted:

Exquisite Ryoko!

Thank you, Carol-Anne!  

Thank you for teaching us a bit more about Japanese culture, Ryoko. This set is so creative and absolutely beautiful. 💙

Sweet Prodigy - Christine posted:

Thank you for teaching us a bit more about Japanese culture, Ryoko. This set is so creative and absolutely beautiful. 💙

Thank you  Christine.  

This entry just blew me away. The level of detail is astounding.  You did an amazing job of piping the minute details of the kazashi of wood, and the kanzashi of tortoise shell is so life-like - it really looks like tortoise shell! I can't say enough great things about this entry.  Really well done! 

Bakerloo Station posted:

This entry just blew me away. The level of detail is astounding.  You did an amazing job of piping the minute details of the kazashi of wood, and the kanzashi of tortoise shell is so life-like - it really looks like tortoise shell! I can't say enough great things about this entry.  Really well done! 

Chrisitn, @Bakerloo Station

This challenge made me think what I do not care usually.  My mother was  trying to give or sell what she does not use anymore.  Kanzashi were one of them.  But she was told they had no value anymore since we do not wear Kimono often. 

During 50 to 100 years ago, since we did not have luxurious things, those might be our fortune, hope and dream.   If the bamboo Kanzashi I made really existed at that time, it must have been treasure (even it was made with just bamboo, we have and had bamboo a lot).   

But now they have no value anymore.   My hear is still aching.   At least, my mother decided to keep them.   Another good thing was, while I tried to find about Kanzashi, from a 70-something- lady gave me a beautiful book that is filled with many beautiful Kanzashi.    They are definitely art.