14 February 2021

After cancelling several events, II Chapter 56 held its New Year’s Celebration via Zoom. We began with a very brief meeting in which President Susan Hirate Introduced Mrs. Takako Aoki, wife of new Counsul General. Then the program committee recognized and thanked the board from 2018-2020 and Introduced the board members that took over for 2020-2022.

The main event was our very own Sogetsu Riji Karen Kirk, who provided a tutorial on several ways to tie obi for decorative purposes. First she showed examples of different kinds of obi: the elaborate Maru, the partly decorated Fukuro, the narrow Han-Haba, and the Nagoya with its varying width. Karen then showed us several examples of tying obi into flowers or fan shapes, with and without a rolled base. She even added flower arrangements to several to show how they can be used with ikebana. Most examples were based on two reference books; however, she also showed how she modified the basic fan into a triple fan! And used her elementary teacher skills to demonstrate an easy way to remember how to tie the decorative Awaji knot to enhance the obi.