October 2024, Kannazuki Yawame (Gentle)
Hello! This is Mizobe, a staff member at Whole Love Kyoto. It’s a bit nerve-wracking to present the very first edition of our monthly newsletter, which we’ll be handing or sending out to customers who’ve purchased our items.
Our goal is to create something that brings you closer to the essence of our shop, Kyoto, and its traditional culture—something that might even make you chuckle a little and leave you curious about the next edition.
Recently, Something Warm and Fuzzy
Does your neighborhood have a public bath? Kyoto once boasted nearly 600 sentō (public baths) at its peak, though now fewer than 150 remain. Some have kept their old-world charm for decades, while others have been renewed under new management. There’s a sentō near my home that had been closed for a while due to the owner’s health issues. Given the owner’s age, I was bracing myself for the possibility that it might never reopen. But recently, I saw smoke rising from the chimney—and it filled me with joy!
The sight of smoke from a sentō chimney is a lovely signal that it’s open. It’s one of those everyday scenes I hope will never disappear. Incidentally, at Whole Love Kyoto, we hang out a large white noren (curtain) every day as our own sign of being open.
Never the Same Twice
Cotton was once the fabric of everyday wear during the era of kimono as daily attire—a material well-suited to the seasons and gentle on the skin.
Usui shokufu, the only remaining weaver in Japan producing the traditional Ise Cotton of Mie Prefecture, excels in creating unique colors and patterns. The current master weaver, Shigeo Usui, proudly states: “My predecessor’s colors and patterns were truly remarkable. I’ve been tirelessly experimenting to recreate the vast variety left behind, but I’ve never woven the same design twice. Each piece is a once-in-a-lifetime encounter.”
Enchanted by those words and his smile, we selected three designs from Usui’s treasure trove of Ise Cotton. They’ve been crafted into hanao (straps) and are now available for you to customize with our new HANAO SHOES collection.。
2024.10 Chihana Mizobe
