164 INTERVIEWING JAPAN
actors set the fashions in women's dress styles and
to them especially may be traced the development
of the obi. On the other hand some motifs were
practically taboo because of superstition. The
camellia was disliked because its red flower falls
from the stalk in one piece like a head falls under
the blow of a sword. The lovely maple leaf, or
momiji, now so popular, and the ajisai^ or hydran-
gea, were ostracized because iro9 or colour, may
also mean love. Both the maple and the hydrangea
change their colour and so imply that love will
change.
The parade of the past is now interrupted by
modern innovations. "Whereas ladies of but a
few years ago would have shuddered at the thought
of horses and pigeons tramping from one side of
their kimono or obi to another, now such patterns
are not unusual. In the old days, no birds except
the noble phoenix and crane were used and some-
times the curl-tailed lion of China was depicted.
The small print designs found on foreign clothes
are now also used 00 kimono but more than likely
they are old designs of a hundred and fifty years
ago when small patterns were popular. They
look foreign because they are produced in brilliant
colours/* stated Mr* Efcaki as he pointed out that
the patterns of the past were just as bold as those