She goes on telling me how from the days of emperors to post world war era kimonos have evolved. The glory and fame of the emperors of those days would symbolically also reflect on the kimono their women would wear. The fabric used were high quality silk while the prints used traces of gold and platinum. Those kimono were not just beautiful but full of pride of Japanese prosperity. Today not everyone women wears Kimono but people still love to have one set of kimono at disposal. However, this is also changing as the buying culture is being replaced by rental culture not because people don't like to wear them but they are getting too expensive to afford. Just like every where else Japanese life style even though comparatively insular is quite influenced by Western lifestyle. Sensei was unwrapping the kimono set along with the legacy it carries in a beautiful way. As I touched the fabric of Kimono, I could feel the coolness of silk. Sensei started explaining the pattern. One of the pattern was really beautiful. There was a sailing ship. It looked like a painting to me and I asked sensei about that one. She explained that the sailing ship was something her grandfather painted in the kimono for her mother. The kimono was legendary that was passing down the generation. Her mother wore it as a bride and she did the same. Her grandfather who drew the ship was not a professional artist. Yet his love for his daughter was clearly reflecting in that piece of art. In my own thoughts I went on interpreting the sailing ship in the kimono. The ship could have been there representing life as a journey. As in a journey, life passes through several stages; Wedding being one of them. He might have thought just like a ship encounters various challenges while crossing a sea, his daughter could go through ups and downs but a stong ship which might be a metaphor of a determined heart stands un-wrecked making the voyage smooth. He was probably wishing his daughter a capacity to be resilient through out the journey of life. The other interesting thing was that the ship painted was very colorful so he must have also thought that the new beginning of his daughter's life is going to be very colorful and blessed. I am not sure if sensei ever had an answer to why the ship was there but for me it was interesting to interpret my own thoughts than to seek the real answer.
The ship had more meanings for me. Until a daughter is young she is very close to her father just like a ship before it begins its independent journey is tied up in a port, just as a father nurtures a little girl. Once set free she is on her own. Though the bond is still there, there is a bit of physical distance and though she knows she can always come back to him she is the master of her life. A sailing ship to me metaphorically represented a fully grown daughter ready to begin her new destiny. The whole kimono event at the end of the day made me think of my father. I realized that years back I left the port just like this ship did, though going back and forth, but totally on my own in the journey of life.
