Saturday, January 26, 2019

Japanese Ladies and Postcards. . . . . . .


My lovely English friend Rosemary at Where Five Valleys Meet, a truly beautiful
 and very interesting blog, recently shared her pretty 100 year old Geisha doll.
Rosemary, like me, is a world traveler. She stuns us with amazing photos from
the historic places she visits so, if you've not visited her blog yet, I encourage you 
to do so, you will really enjoy all she captures with her lens and the interesting
 stories she writes.



Stories of Japan's Geishas have always intrigued me.  
When visiting Japan several years back, I took the above photo of one of those
 lovely ladies who welcomed us to our expedition ship at the dock in Niigata
 prior to sailing away through the picturesque islands.



At one of our island stops along the way - we were headed to the Russian
 Kuril Islands and  Kamchatka peninsula - we were able to shop for
 Japanese mementoes/gifts, and my purchases included this set
 of beautiful postcards depicting not so much Geishas but classic
 Japanese women.  
I think you will agree that their clothes are so beautiful and of course
the artwork is gorgeous.









What do you do with all the postcards you may have collected over the years?
I really have a large collection which I enjoy thumbing through every so often.
I also use them as bookmarks and, of course, now and again still mail one off
to a friend if the right card pops up for a special occasion and I think might be
enjoyed.

Wishing readers a great weekend. Some of you here in the US will be in a
 deeper than deep freeze in the coming days - do take care.

10 comments:

  1. Dear Mary, How wonderful that you were prompted
    (by Rosemary of https://wherefivevalleysmeet.blogspot.com/)
    to share your costumed ladies with us.
    The painted and printed fabrics are amazing. One could build an entire library based on their designs. How generous of you to share such treasures. I have been a grateful recipient of your beautifully wrapped packages.

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    Replies
    1. Gina I miss you and Mr. G. Bob and I chat about you so often - especially when you post those beautiful snowy pix from the villa!

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  2. Replies
    1. Penny dear - will be emailing you back soon - busy doing nothing around here, haha!

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  3. I am stunned at your very generous comments along with the link Mary, and am so pleased that my Japanese lady gave you an opportunity to do this special post. The postcards are exquisite and look as if they have been produced on lovely paper rather than the shiny commercial cards. I think that I would be tempted to mount them in a decorative way and have them framed to hang on the wall. The art work is as you mention gorgeous.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, the postcards are printed on beautiful matte (linen?) cardstock - and the subtle colorations are so charming. I may look for a collage type frame to display them as it really is a shame to hide them in box! I've always found the Japanese to be wonderful with paper, especially when wrapping when they fold and pleat tissue etc.

      Well you are special and extremely gracious Rosemary, and your blog really does reflect all you do.
      Mary -

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  4. Both you and Rosemary have wonderful blogs, Mary, and travel to such interesting places. I enjoyed Rosemary's doll post, and how fun to come here and see that you were inspired by it to share your beautiful post cards. Japanese art is so lovely. Our youngest and her husband are traveling to Japan in a few weeks. I'm sure they will have a wonderful time.

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  5. Lovely postcards. I like to collect them too. It's really hard for me to part with some of the ones I collect from my travels but I love sending off the odd postcard from Malta.
    I am not sure whether you want to get into a postcard exchange but, if you do, Postcrossing is a great site to do so.

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  6. The cards are beautiful. Love your capture of the geisha also. How I would love travel through the islands around Japan. I sometimes, also, us postcards for bookmarks or send them off to friends. Definitely not as cold as many places in the country. Today was foggy and just a bit cool.

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  7. Really beautiful cards. I have so many postcards and would love to do a wall of them but unfortunately don't have a whole lot of wall space left. :) Wish I could mail things but the postal system here is the pits. :(

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