#kichiya musubi

[tanuki-kimono]

Edo period women obi knots, fantastic reference chart by Edo lover Nadeshico Rin.

You can see here several obi musubi favored by city women, of all class and status. Novelty knots were a fashion statement, often lauched by star onnagata kabuki actors, and spread by iki fashionistas such as geisha.

For top to bottom, left to right, you can see here:

Chidori musubi (plover knot) ちどり結び

Shôryû musubi (little dragon knot) 小龍結び

Kichiya musubi (Kichiya knot) 吉弥 結び - named after onnagata actor Uemura Kichiya I in Genroku period, who single handedly launched a new type of knots and obi fashion

Koman musubi (Koman knot) 小万結び - named after a kabuki character in play Yakko no Koman

Nagoya obi (Nagoya belt) 名古屋帯 - Azuchi Momoyama/Early Edo era silk kumihimo tied in butterfly knot

Yanoji musubi (arrow knot) 矢の字結び - created by onnagata actor Segawa Kikunojo II. Also found under the name tateya musubi 立て矢結び (standing arrow knot)

Yoshio musubi (Yoshio knot) よしお結び

Mizuki musubi (Mizuki knot) 水木結び - onnagata actor Mizuki Tatsunosuke is said to have first worn this variation of the Kichiya musubi

Rokô musubi (rôkô knot) 路孝結び - created by onnagata actor Segawa Kikunojo II

Karuta musubi (card knot) カルタ結び - created in early Edo period, looking like 3 playing cards side by side

Hitotsu musubi (single knot) 一つ結び - during Edo, was also called darari musubi だらり結び. Note that it differs from is nowadays called darari obi (worn by maiko)

Tate musubi (standing knot) 立て結び - see yanoji/tateya musubi for variations

Bunko kuzushi (unbalanced knot) 文庫くずし

Heijûrô musubi (Heijûrô knot) 平十郎結び - created by actor Murayama Heijûrô III

Sageshita musubi (falling knot) さげ下結び

(by request of @fireflybettle, hope this will help you ^^)

[womenthroughtime]

Kichiya-musubi, ca. 1905 (x)

[tanuki-kimono]

Hello! Just wanna start out by saying your blog is super awsome. Either way I was wondering if you know any sources that help with obi knots and how to tie them? I've been specifically trying to find how to tie a Mizuki knot for a thing I'm putting together.

Hi <3! Mizuki is a descendant of kichiya musubi. Another one used widely today is the 文庫結び bunko musubi. You'll have much better luck searching for bunko tutorials :)

Main differences between bunko and mizuki is, as far as I can tell, the lenght of the "tails" and the way to fold the end (it's folded under/hidden in bunko, and left free in mizuki).

This site has step by step pictures for bunko:

[tanuki-kimono]

Men obi knots collection by @mukimei_kana. Most of those can also be worn by women. They are, from top to bottom + left to right:

=> Using soft obi type:

Heko obi (兵児帯)

=> Using stiff obi type (kaku obi, hanhaba obi, etc.):

Kichiya musubi (吉弥結び)

Yanoji musubi (やの字 結び)

Karuta musubi (かるた結び)

Katawana musubi (片わな 結び)

Double ribbon musubi (ダブルリボン結び)

Ichimonji musubi (一文字結び)

Kawari katabasami (変わり片ばさみ - also sometimes called ronin musubi 浪人結び)

Kanda musubi (神田結び)