Kitsune – Kimono and Kitsuke Club AGM Minutes

Date: April the 27^th, 4.00pm – 5.30 pm.           

Location: 379 (Humanities Building, Sandy Bay Campus)

4.00 pm meeting opened by Emerald King.

New members welcomed.

Emerald gave a brief introduction of the club and its main ideals – namely to share knowledge and enthusiasm regarding the wearing of kimono and other traditional Asian costumes; to make opportunities for this to happen through events such as formal dinners and showcase events; to hold one major event per year.

4.15 pm Emerald introduced candidates standing for committee positions (and gave a brief introduction of the kimono that each was wearing).

Each nominee for committee positions stood unopposed.

Nominees – President: Emerald Ralph (nee King) (street style winter ensemble of red berries and a crane sash)

Vice President: Hitomi Yoshida (1930s style informal wool kimono)

Treasurer: Bec Muir (formal winter ensemble in silver)

Secretary: Olivia Swann (yellow cotton summer kimono)

5.00 pm Olivia gave a demonstration of how to put on an informal summer kimono.

5.10 pm members invited to try/practice wearing informal summer kimono provided by Kitsune committee members.

5.30 pm meeting closed by Hitomi.

Kitsuen Constitution.

As part of the process of affiliating with the TUU, Kitsune has drawn up the following constitituion:

KITSUNE Constitution

PART 1: THE SOCIETY

 1. Name

The name of the Society shall be 'The Tasmania University Union KITSUNE Society', hereinafter referred to as 'The Society'.

2. Objects/Aims

The objects/aims of the Society shall be to promote all aspects of Japanese kimono by way of meeting together as a Kitsune club whereby members will be encouraged to practice wearing kimono, and to appreciate the styles, history, culture, fabrics and patterns of kimono.

3. Society Subject to TUU Regulations and Societies Council Policy

(1) The society is subject to TUU Regulations relating to clubs and societies, and anything in its constitution, any by-law of the society or its office-bearers which is inconsistent with the said Regulation, or any amendment to a special rule there under, shall be void and of no effect insofar as it is inconsistent.

(2) The Standing Orders of the TUU relating to meeting procedure, is to be adopted by the society.

(3) The society is subject to Societies Council Policy, and anything in its constitution, any by-law of the society or its office-bearers which is inconsistent with the said Policy, or any amendment to a special rule thereunder, shall be void and of no effect insofar as it is inconsistent.

4. Membership

(1) Full Membership: Any student member of the TUU is eligible to be a Full Member of any society on payment of the required membership fee. No such member of the TUU may be discriminated against on any grounds with regard to membership of any society.

(2) Associate Membership: Any person who is a non-student member of the TUU, or who is not a member of the TUU, is eligible to be an Associate member of any society on payment of the required membership fee. No such person may be discriminated against on any grounds with regard to membership of any society.

5. Expulsion from a Society

(1) A society shall have the power to expel any member from the society for misconduct of a nature opposed to the objects of the society, and/or the interests and reputation of the society and/or its members.

(a)   Such expulsion shall be made by way of a motion at an extra-ordinary meeting of that society.

(b) Debate regarding the expulsion shall be held in camera.

(2) Where a society has expelled any one of its members according to section 5(1), section 4 shall be void with regard to that member or members, and such expulsion shall be permanent unless revoked by way of a motion at an Annual General Meeting or extra-ordinary general meeting of that society.

6. Composition of a Society Executive

No more than one half of a society's executive members may be Associate members as defined in section 4(2).

7. Subscriptions

The annual subscription shall be set no later than the second Wednesday of semester 1. The discussion shall be ratified by a general meeting. The initial subscription fee is $5 for qualifying full members and $10 for associate members.

Part II: THE EXECUTIVE

 8. The Executive

The entire management of the Society shall be departed to the executive of five (you may like a bigger executive) full financial members. These members shall be:

(a) The President
(b) The Vice-President
(c) The Secretary
(d) The Treasurer
(e) The Alternate Delegate to Societies Council
 

9. Duties and Powers of the Executive

In the absence of a general meeting the executive shall be responsible for the general running of the Society. All decisions of the executive, which relate to the Society, must be ratified by a general meeting of the Society.

10. Duties and Powers of Each Executive Member

(a) The President: In the absence of a general meeting and an executive meeting the President shall have the full executive powers of the Society. All decisions made by the President that relate to the Society, must be ratified by a general meeting of the Society. Shall oversee all General Meetings and the Annual General Meeting.

(b) The Vice-President: Shall exercise the duties and powers of the President in the latter’s absence. Shall organise each event, venue, meeting time and frequency, and shall correspond with members and the Executive. Shall liaise directly with the President and the Executive.

(c) The Secretary: Responsible for keeping records of all the Society's proceedings, conduct all Society correspondence and give due notice of all meetings. Shall be in charge of updating the Society website and Facebook page.

(d) The Treasurer: Shall handle and keep a record of all Society finances. S/he shall present a financial report whenever required by the Society. S/he shall do this at least one time each year (as per clause 10(2)(b).

Part III: MEETINGS

10. Requirements for Society Meetings

(1) General Meetings: A society shall have at least one (1) general meeting per semester, in addition to other meetings of the society. Notice of a meeting must be given to members of the society at least seven (7) days prior to the meeting.

(2) Annual General Meetings: A society shall have an Annual General Meeting for which the executive of the society shall set a date, time, and venue. Notice of a meeting must be given to members of the society at least seven (7) days prior to the meeting. The purpose of the Annual General Meeting shall be, among other things:

(a) To elect a new executive;

(b) To issue the society's financial records for the past twelve (12) months; and

(c) To hear reports from each executive member.

(3) Extra-Ordinary General Meetings: An extra-ordinary general meeting shall be deemed necessary on the request of no less than five (5) members of the society. This request shall be submitted to the secretary of the society in writing, outlining the reasons for the request. The secretary of the society must call the meeting within fourteen (14) days of receiving the request. Notice of a meeting must be given to members of the society at least seven (7) days prior to the meeting. At the meeting the only matter to be discussed shall be that/those topics to which the request refers.

(4) Voting: Only Full members, and Associate members who are members of the society executive, shall be entitled to vote. Such members present shall be entitled to one vote each upon every voting matter.

(5) Quorum For Meetings: The quorum at all general meetings shall be at least one half of all members.

11. Regulations

The Executive shall have the power to make such rules and regulations pertaining to the conduct of the members of the Society as it shall from time to time deem necessary, subject to section 17.

Part IV: POWERS OF SOCIETY

 12. Censure Motions

The Society in general meeting shall have the power to pass a resolution censuring the Executive.

13. No Confidence Motions

The Society in general meeting shall have the power to pass a resolution of No Confidence in the Executive.

14. Committee Decisions

The Society in general meeting shall have the power to overrule any decision of the Executive.

Part V: FINANCIAL PROVISIONS

 15. Bankers

The bankers of the Society shall be the Commonwealth Savings Bank of Australia, University Branch and all cheques shall be signed by any two of the following persons:

(a) President
(b) The Secretary
(c) The Treasurer
(d) The Vice-President

16. Closing of Accounts

(1) The last executive of a society failing to re-affiliate shall undertake to close that society's bank accounts and transfer any remaining balance, plus any remaining petty cash, to the Societies Council.

(2) The Societies Council Executive shall be entitled to request the bank(s), building society/building societies, or credit union(s) used by defunct societies (see Societies Council 'General Policy' section 10) to close such accounts and to transfer any accumulated funds to the Council.

Part VI: MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

17. Amendments

These rules may be added to, repeated or amended by resolution at any general meeting. If the amendment entails the annulment of a pre-existing rule the amendment must be passed by two thirds of the financial members present, otherwise the majority shall be one half.

18. Sub-Committee

The Executive shall have the power to appoint such sub-committees for any purpose as it shall decide from time to time. The President shall be ex-officio a member of all such sub-committees. Sub-committee resolutions must be ratified by a general meeting.

Next Meeting - April 27th, 4.00 (THIS FRIDAY!!)

Dear Foxlings,
it's been a long time since our last Kitsune - Kimono and Kitsuke Club meeting.
The first meeting for 2012 will be held on April the 27th at room 379 (Humanities Building, Sandy Bay Campus) from 4.00.
This is your chance to sign up and become a financial member!! We will also go over the constitution in preparation for affiliating with the TUU. This meeting is also a chance for us to discuss what everyone wants from the club this year. Lastly, we'll have our first 'kitsuke' (how to wear kimono) lesson - what you need to wear kimono.
Hopefully we will be finished in time for people to attend Wasabi's screening of 'Princess Mononoke' later on Friday evening.
Hope to see you there.
Apologies if anyone has received this email by mistake,
Emerald

 ~*~

While I have your attention, I am please to announce the exec for 2012 -

President (Chief Fox) - Emerald

Vice President (Deputy Fox) - Hitomi

Treasurer (Keeper of the Shiny Things) - Bec

Secretary (Keeper of the Words) - Liv.

All members stood unopposed. 

 ~*~

Lastly - just to prove that we haven't been completely inactive since Yay! Japan - here is a photo of some lovely foxlings at the opening of the 'Research Life of Arts Objects' exhibition held at the UTAS Sandy Bay Campus in March where they were living exhibits for the School of Asian Languages and Studies' submission.

 Kitsune members Rach, Emerald, Amy, Anna, Liv and Hitomi modelling kimono and yukata.

Rach is wearing a formal furisode ensemble

Emerald wears a kimono-hime inspired vintage ensemble

Amy wears a Furifu brand yukata

Anna is wearing a vintage 1980s ensemble

Liv wears an original 1930s ensemble

Hitomi is wearing a swallow pattern ensemble

furifu new line out! and other general news

just a quick note to say thank you to everyone who made it to, what i think, has been one of the best meetings so far!
thank you to Noe for sharing her invaluable kitsuke knowledge.
i'll have the minutes for both this meeting and the committee meeting up very soon.
don't forget that next meeting we will hopefully be heading out and about in kimono or yukata (which gives everyone a chance to buy underwear if they need it ... you know who you are!!)
in the mean time ... check out the new kimono line by my favourite brand, furifu. while their prices are out of most of our range (unless the Japanese government is paying your rent for you), their coordination is beautiful and a good source of inspiration.
http://furifu.com/collection/ (in Japanese with some English)


- Emerald

The BIG rule

At the last Kitsune meeting I introduced an idea that I'd been playing around with to do with kitsuke - more specifically ideas about getting the right length and proportions during kitsuke.
I call this the BIG rule and it goes a little like this:

The length of you kimono depends on a combination of the following: how is BIG the garment?; how BIG is the wearer?; how BIG is the event/occasion?; how BIG are the shoes being worn with the garment?

For example, most of my kimono are too small for my 174cm frame. To combat this, I tend to wear them with high-heels which, as discussed earlier, means that I can wear my kimono slightly shorter than is strictly proper.

The more formal an event, the longer a kimono should be worn. Informal yukata should be worn so that they fall somewhere between the top of the ankles and the top of the foot. For a formal kimono, the kimono should just skim the floor at the back of the heel. If you are wearing kimono with zori (formal platform thongs) then the kimono should just touch the zori. Zori also fall under the BIG rule as they have a higher platform as events become more formal.

This 'rule' should be taken as a rough guide only. There are volumes of books dedicated to what the proper length of a kimono is depending on the situation. This is simply something that helps me when I'm dressing.

-E

2nd Kitsune club meeting minutes

This meeting we practiced dressing in yukata and folding kimono with the help of members of the AJS.
-Emerald introduced the differences between formal 'kimono school' style and 'street style.'

The difference between (image on the left) - a seijinshiki (coming of age day) formal ensemble that took 3 hours for hair, makeup and kitsuke - and (image on the left) - a komon (all over pattern kimono) with heels and white wig informal ensemble put together for the cosplay catwalk. The first is very bulky using lots of towels to get my curvey western body all the one shape from hips to bust. The second uses no towels and binding cords (datejime) to surpress the bust. Both outfits use a fukuro obi (formal sash).

-Member Rebecca and Emerald did a kistuke demonstration showing two ways to dress in yukata using himo (strings), datejime and corin belts. Emerald showed how to tie a hanhaba obi (half width obi) into a bunkyou musubi (a bow like knot that is used with yukata and worn under hakama).

-The group tried on yukata supplied by Emerald, Miriam and Hitomi or wore their own. Those who had experience in kitsuke were able to help those in the group who had less (or no) experience.

-The possibility of a kimono event was raised with Barbara making the fantastic suggestion that we should aim for a display in the Morris Miller Library.

-Affiliation with the UTAS student union was raised and it was decided that we should affiliate.

-The group learnt how to fold kimono and yukata and helped to put the yukata away.

Sorry for the lateness of these very brief minutes. Thank you to everyone who helped look for my manky brown datejime. It somehow made its way into my bag when I wasn't looking so all is well! Thank you to those who attended and helped to make it a good meeting. Thank you for baring with me while I made way through the meeting without the help of Hitomi sensei who was sick.

19 July 2011 Committee meeting minutes

Committee members present: Hitomi, Emerald, Cass.
Meeting opened 5.30 pm
-Discussed the aims for the club (to learn how to wear kimono, to wear kimono out in a group, to host a kimono event).
-Discussed topic for the next meeting - how to wear yukata, and decided that Emerald would lead the session and do a kitsuke demonstration. The group would then try dressing themselves.
-Discussed which obi musubi (sash ties) to teach and decided on the 'bunkyou' for the next meeting with Nagoya obi ties to come at a later meeting.
-Discussed possible events and venues for a kimono themed event. Ideas included a Kimono Showcase at Lazenbys supported by other Asia centric clubs around the university.
-Discussed affiliation with the university to become a university society.
Meeting closed 7.00pm

Apologies for the tardiness of these (very brief) minutes. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to leave a comment here or at the facebook page. E

Welcome to Kitsune Club - 3rd June

-The first meeting of Kitsune was held at the Sandy Bay campus of UTAS on 3rd July. The meeting was attended by 30 people. A summary of the minutes from the meeting can be found below:

-Dr Barbara Hartley gave a welcoming address that expressed her enthusiasm for kimono and her desire to share and learn with the rest of the club.
SALS staff members Hitomi Yoshida and Yukiko Burns as well as PhD Candidate Emerald King introduced themselves and explained their aims for Kitsune:
1)Learn kitskue (how to wear kimono) and learn about kimono - it's history, fashion trends, pattern names and construction.
2)Club outings whilst wearing kimono - Japanese restaurants, high tea, dinner, picnics, cherry blossom viewing etc.
3)Produce, host and participate in a kimono fashion show/exhibition at the end of 2011.

-Emerald explained the meaning of the Kitsune club name and logo:

'Kitsune,' 'fox' is a word play on 'kitsuke,' a Japanese word meaning the formal art of wearing kimono. Kitsune (狐) uses the following kanji 着-通-祢 (ki-tsu-ne) which can be loosely translated as sanctuary for kimono lovers. Kitsune foxes are often tricksters in Japanese folk lore but foxes are also revered as messengers for the harvest deity. The fox in the logo is taken from a famous print of a fox disguised as a woman. The idea of the kitsune/fox hints at the playfulness with which the club aims to approach kimono and kitsuke.

-Club members expressed their reasons for wanting to learn about kimono which ranged from an interest in Japanese culture to a desire to learn how to wear kimono, yukata and other traditional Japanese clothing.

-Hitomi, Barbara and Emerald introduced the group to a number of their favourite kimono sites which will be posted on this blog for future reference.

-Members of the club were dressed in kimono and yukata and posed for photos.

-The next meeting is proposed for the 22 July where the club will practice wearing yukata. Members are encouraged to bring their own yukata, himo (strings/chords to tie yukata) and half-width obi to the meeting.