Ikkiichiyuu Now rejoicing, now worrying; swinging from joy to sorrow; alternating hope and fear.

This was created for 's Born in the Wrong Century contest.

Here, I've created a portrait of myself as an early 20th century oiran. While there are a number of things that keep me from wanting to be an actual oiran - this entry is for a costume club, and costume wise - I love oiran and I want to wear the things they do.

Anyways, this portrait is supposed to illustrate the geimyo Ikkiichiyuu. For those of you who don't know, geimyo are basically stage names. They're used by geisha and oiran. Generally geimyo are rather dramatic compared to other Japanese names. Anyways, I was helping a friend of mine come up with geimyo and I came across Ikkiichiyuu a phrase which I thought worked very well. You can see the definition of the name up above.

Well for this portrait I thought it would be neat to have the oiran caught in that moment of swinging between joy and sorrow. She's out viewing the first blossoms of the season, but something about them has triggered a thought or perhaps a memory in her...

Now about her costume. She's wearing my dream uchikake - deep purple patterned with a giant phoenix. The phoenix's wings spread across her shoulders and it's tail decorates her sleeves and back. The phoenix is a symbol of femininity. Meanwhile, her obi is patterned with jumping carp which are a symbol of strength and determination. I really wish you could see the original of this piece. All those metallic looking portions of the kimono and hair ornaments are painted in gold, silver and bronze inks, so that her uchikake and kanzashi litterally shine.

If you have an interest in kimono or geisha, please check out my other gallery:

I used one of these photos as reference for the face: [link]

Prints of this piece are up for sale in my Etsy shop: [link]