This year was the fifth occasion , so they organized a matsuri (Japanmarkt (Nl.).
What better occasion for the Kimono de Jack NL to get together again ? The weather forecast promised very sunny and very warm weather : perfect for wearing yukata!
Leiden is a Dutch city with a well-preserved historic centre and criss-crossed by lots of canals.
On a sunny day like this , and this being the Netherlands, where seemingly everyone owns a boat , there's plenty of activity on the water.
One of the gates of the old city.
All along the length of the Rapenburg street, the stalls of the Matsuri were set up, promising lots of goodies and food.
Members of KDJ NL were starting to arrive ; from left to right : Carolien ,Mei-ing and Linda.
Charissa in a pink yukata .
Maaike and Ben from Belgium.
Charissa and Nadine ( not in yukata : she's performing Japanese dance at the SieboldHuis ) enjoying edamame ( fresh green soybeans ).
Amy in a lovely green yukata.
One ( of the many ) foodstalls.
This one sold "Japanese poffertjes" : small portions of mixed vegetables covered with a dough base, not takoyaki ( they're round and contain squid ) but more like small okonomiyaki. Very tasty :)
To stay cool in hot weather like this , you drink Japanese beer ^^
Or , you eat an ice cream.
Of course , we weren't here for the food alone but to meet other kimono fans.
Third from the right, one of the newest KDJ NL members : Fiona .
Linda and Caroline posing with an unknown girl.
Musubi shot of the 'unknown girl' :)
Stephanie, Carolien and Linda checking out the ikebana stand.
And getting photographed while checking out the ikebana stand ^^
Lovely arrangement with hosta leaves and an allium.
Ben trying his hand at shogi ( Japanese chess )
We also ran into some people we met before :
Maaike , Ben and Mei-ing posing with Kumiko-san , who we met at the Hanami event in Amstelveen.
The man from the shakuhachi workshop ( at the Shofukan tea house opening )
Maaike , Ben and Mei-ing posing with Kumiko-san , who we met at the Hanami event in Amstelveen.
The activities at the SieboldHuis finished with a procession of drummers.
No shrine was being carried around this time, but a genuine princess.
This bridge looked like the perfect place for our traditional KDJ NL group shots.
( click on the pictures to see them in a larger format )
Showing off the sleeves.
Musubi shot !
Tabi shot ( on this hot day of course without tabi (socks) ^^)
Just for fun, everyone perched on the railing of the bridge.
After the group shots , I went looking for some detail shots.
Ami's taiko musubi.
Carolien's musubi
Charissa having her musubi fixed before I'm allowed to photograph it ^^
Yes, that looks so much better !
Mei-ing's pearl and goldfish obidome ( ornament that fastens onto the obijime )
Caroline's pearl string.
Maaike's handbag
Charissa's handbag.
Carolien's handbag.
While everyone was having fun at the matsuri or on the water, others were hard at work, like this little fellow, collecting stems from the yellow water-lily to build his nest.
(Copyright Walter Vandijck 2012-)
