Customer Reviews

Kimonos (365 Series)

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I bought this book to learn the basics of the history of the kimono. I don't have much background in the subject, but I found this book to be very interesting although the text is minimal. The pictures are quite lovely, with a few being blurry. All around I think this a good book if you're interested in a basic book full of photos and some good commentary on the various kimonos worn in Japan.

I knew what I was getting when i purchased this book, it is a nice little book with lots of pretty photos of girls in kimonos. i got a really good deal for it on amazon :)

This book is a nice primer for people who want to enter the world of the Japanese kimono, but have three jobs to pay for a revolving debt, kids to attend to, and a Family Guy rerun coming up.

The text is informative, but minimal, to the point of museum index cards beside artwork. It whets your appetite, but doesn't sate your hunger.

So if you want to have a bright cheery book sitting around, where people can sorta read it, while talking to you, or looking at the pictures, and realizing they have to get a prada knockoff at payless, while opening a bottle of wine, and surfing the television....then this book is the one.

There was a lot of public street photography that captured mostly the backs of contemporary Japanese women in transit. This was to highlight the Obi (sash to secure the kimono) on thir backs. On one hand, I think it's important to look at an artform in the environment it was meant for, incorporated into one's daily activities. On another, I felt the pictures may have been selected based on what the author thought was aesthetically pleasing, not on historical relevance. In other words, she could be selecting a photo of a kimono that's design is completely incongruous with Japanese tastes and the standards of kimono-making. She could have selected a picture of a person in public wearing a kimono that is frowned upon by the Japanese.

So that made the book seemed as if it was often "shot from the hip." Some beautiful historical pictures and a few by Japan's great Nobuyoshi Araki rounds up this affordable and sensible introductory treat to kimonos.