1media/Kaie hachi kinotō reki _thumb.jpg2020-04-30T13:56:36-07:00Rebecca Corbetta90733ad69f461205618486aa72143b4a46f0ff982391plain2020-04-30T13:56:36-07:00Rebecca Corbetta90733ad69f461205618486aa72143b4a46f0ff9
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1media/Kaie hachi kinotō reki .jpgmedia/Kaei hachi kinotō reki, p. 1 Detail.jpg2020-05-06T16:46:45-07:00A Decorative Calendar12image_header2020-07-22T11:39:55-07:00Kaei hachi kinoto reki (1854) is a decorative, lightweight calendar made of thin paper and bound in the accordion (orihon) format.
Accordion binding consists of a long strip of paper or a strip of leaves glued together, folded in zig-zag fashion. The bound book can be easily opened flat to view all the leaves at once, or a two-page spread can be opened at once with the rest of the leaves remaining closed (useful for consulting just a section of a calendar, for example). A calendar of this size could easily be slipped into a kimono sleeve, or the pocket created by the fold at the front of a kimono, for portability. Calendars were often bound in this format, another example from USC Libraries is Bunkyū san mizunotoi reki (1862).
Kaei hachi kinoto reki is more than a utilitarian object though, with the use of gold leaf and mica on the front cover, including the inside cover, making it aesthetically pleasing. It was probably owned by someone of reasonable wealth.
