Tokyo Deception

1

"Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive." - Sir Walter Scott

Chapter 1

Before

July ninth the day of the wedding came around so fast Mimi did not have time to dwell on what happened with Shigure. Emily turned up alone a day before the wedding and she made excuses for their brothers as to why they could not come, but Mimi knew they were still siding with their father. It hurt but Mimi was not going to let it spoil her big day.

Because Emily was Mimi's only blood relative attending the wedding Hatori wanted to make it special for both Mimi and Emily. He had got Emily's measurements months before and had ordered a beautiful kurotomesode kimono for her to wear to the wedding. A kurotomesode was a kimono that married women who are close relatives to the bride and groom wear at weddings and is the most formal of all the different types of kimonos. It was a short sleeve black silk kimono that only had patterns below the waist on the skirt. It also had five mon (the family crest) in white, one on each of the shoulders in the front and three on the back two on the top sides and one in the middle of the two on the back. Hatori used his family's mon which was three gentian flowers on top of five bamboo leaves because Emily did not have a mon. The intricate pattern on the skirt of Emily's kimono had gold and white fans that had interlocking circles with flowers in the centre of each circle in the fans. The fans were intertwined with plum branches that had lots of pink, orange, and white plum blossoms; the obi was golden and had the same pattern as the skirt. Both Mimi and Emily were surprised and touched by the gift.

It took Mimi two and a half hours to get dressed and have her hair and makeup done. Mimi was weighed down by the five layers: the first layer was the hada juban, which was a cotton under slip with no collar, followed by the naga juban, a silk under robe which was lined and had a cotton collar. The koshi himo was next. It was a silk belt that went around the nada juban. The date jime was the second belt. It was also made out of silk and it went over the koshi himo to make the foundation for the obi. The next layer was the kakeshita which was a kimono with long sleeves that was padded and had a long trailing hem. Then the maru-obi, a silk belt twelve inches wide and thirteen feet long, which went around the kimono. This obi was chosen over the fukuro obi because it was the most formal of all the obi. Under that was the obi ita, which sat between the obi and the kimono and prevented the obi from becoming wrinkled. The obi makura (a pad) was used to shape the bow that the obi was tied into. The obi aga (a sash) was then used to cover the obi makura. The obi jima (a silk cord) was then tied over the obi and through the bow to hold everything in place. On top of all this was the final layer the uchikake, the unbelted robe. It was long and heavy and had long sweeping sleeves, and the hem was padded. It weighted everything down and made it impossible to walk around without someone to hold it up off the ground for Mimi. Mimi also had to wear white tobi socks (split toed socks) and zori sandals.

After Mimi had endured an hour and a half to get dressed she still had to endure another hour to get her hair and makeup on. Mimi had to wear a bunkin taka-shimada style wig that was adorned with beautiful kanzashi ornaments and combs. The wig reminded her of the hairstyles the geishas wore. Mimi wanted to wear the wataboshi, the bridal hood, instead of the tsunokakushi, the head peace, but the weather was so hot that Mimi thought she would melt if she had to wear a hood. The tsunokakushi was a white head piece that was supposed to hide the bride's horns of jealousy and symbolized the brides resolve to be kind, gentle and obedient to her husband. After her hair was done Mimi was lightly covered in a white powder, her eyes were outlined in black and her lips were painted bright red. Mimi was given a gold hakoseko, a small pocket case purse, which held a small sword called kaiken which symbolized the bride's willingness to use it to kill herself if she dishonoured her husband. She was also given a fan which, was tucked into the obi.