紅花とまつり Celebrating Benibana
7月21日土曜日
This July we had three very important guests. Mr. Inoue and Mr. Ujikawa from Takase came to Dekobokoeigo and talked to our little friends about Benibana and Shishi Odori. Mr. Ujikawa came in full costume, and together with Mr. Inoue, they explained the intricacies of the Shishi Kashira. (In case you were wondering, it doesn’t look half as intimidating on smaller friends!) We were also joined by Ms. Kanamori, a dying and fabric expert, who showed us how to turn our Benibana petals (harvested from our very own Benibana farm!) into a dye, and we made some very pretty paintings with two shades of Beni dye, and Japanese Washi paper. What a lovely workshop! Thank you everyone!
Mr. Inoue telling us about Benibana 
We learned about how to grow... 
...and how use benibana 
Ms. Kanamori talked about making dye 
Beni-mochi 
Benibana orange 
An interesting smell! 
Adding the Sodium Carbonate 
It turned a deep orange 
We painted washi using the dyes 
Beautiful yellow and orange pictures 
Learning about Shishi Odori 
Shishi! 
Discussing the finer points 
A very special Kamon 
The glass eyes 
Trying on the shishi 
Getting a closer look 
Beautiful!