Kimonobox

By Jill Arase

Illustrations by
Tomomi Sarafov
Digital publishing in 2009 by
Kimonobox
Copyright © Kimonobox
Kimonobox
In the corner of the room, there was
an old box.
It was red and black.
It smelt different to other boxes.

Tom and Charlotte were curious.

were pleased to find their family
Tom and Charlotte had never looked in-
side this box before. They wondered if it
held treasure.

They peered into the top drawer and to

their amazement found lots of pieces of
cloth.
But it didn't look
like treasure.

They were a little

bit disappointed.
Perhaps the second drawer had treasure in
it?

The children opened the drawer slightly

and found a pair of black wooden sandals.

Where had such unusual things come from?

新婦の親族
左から:
ここに親族の名前や
思い出を書き込んで
ください
 Just then, in came Aunt Emmy.

Things from the Kimonobox were scattered

all over the floor.

Oh, what a mess!

"We are sorry
Aunt Emmy.
We were look-
ing for treas-
ure," said the
children.
 But Aunt Emmy wasn't cross.
She said, "These are my treasures
from Japan.
Let me show you them properly."
And with that she picked up one of
the long coats called the kimono and
began to dress Charlotte.
Charlotte soon
looked like a
Japanese prin-
cess.

Tom, meanwhile,
tried on the spe-
cial sandals.
The special sandals were called geta.
They were very difficult to walk in and
they made a noise.

Clack, clackety clack.

Charlotte tried the sandals on too.

They felt a bit strange to start with.

But she liked the noise they made.

Clack, clackety clack.

Tom was still curious. There was one
drawer that they hadn't opened yet.

What was inside?

“This drawer holds the most precious
treasures of all. It is full of our family
photographs.”

Sitting on the floor together they

looked through the old pictures. The
book of photos told many stories from
long ago.
 In one photo, there was a picture of a girl
standing next to the Kimonobox.
Tom was surprised.
"That looks like you Charlotte," he gasped.

Aunty Emmy explained that it was a photo

of their grandmother taken when she was a
little girl.
The children were really surprised to see
their grandmother as a child.

"When was this picture taken?", asked

Charlotte.

"Almost sixty years ago," replied Aunt

Emmy.
"So that means that the Kimonobox is
also very old," said Tom.

Aunt Emmy smiled.

"You are right and I think that makes our
family treasures even more special."
 Looking through
family treasures was
fun, but it was time
to pack away.
Tom and Charlotte were pleased to find
their family treasures in the Kimonobox.

What about you?

Do you have family treasure?

© Kimonobox