These days I was wondering what the best present is for a teacher who reads and corrects my blog entries. He lives near Vancouver and I'm going to meet him for the first time. Something to eat or drink would soon disappear. Something that is difficult to get in Canada is better, I thought. I listed up many things and finally chose a pair of samue as a gift.
Any idea about samue? If you'd like to see what it is, copy and paste this word "作務衣" into the Google search field in the right column of this blog. You can see many samues, though it would be written in Japanese.
Originally samue was the work clothes of Japanese Zen monks, made from cotton or linen and traditionally dyed brown or indigo. Samue have been worn by monks when performing labour duties such as temples' maintenance work. In modern times they have become fashionable and popular among ordinary people as general casual wear or workwear.
My father sometimes wears one when relaxing at home. The cooks of Japanese-style restaurants often wear one. Some writers or potters willingly dress in one. At any rate, you'd better try it if you have a chance.
I called in at the biggest Iyo-Kasuri shop and found a nice one. Iyo-Kasuri is a very famous product of my prefecture, Ehime. http://www.city.matsuyama
See here. (7th picture)
(Vocabulary)
indigo 濃い藍色(あいいろ), インディゴブルー
dress [自] (特定の) 服装をする
dress casually カジュアルな服装をする
dress in sth ＜…＞を着ている
(KW: 作務衣 伊予絣会館 伊予かすり会館)
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