A JAPANESE FIREMAN'S COAT

A JAPANESE FIREMAN'S COAT, HIKESHI BANTEN

EDO PERIOD OR LATER, 19TH CENTURY

The reversible garment made of quilted cotton cloth, sashiko, one side with a large single character in white on a deep indigo ground, the other side with freehand paste-resist decoration, tsutsugaki, depicting a ferocious-looking tiger bearing its teeth at a dragon emerging from clouds above, 120cm.

Cf. The Kuwata Collection, Sashiko Hanten, Fireman's Coat, pp.52-53 nos.27&28 for two other examples decorated with tigers and dragons. The author explains that they are the symbols of firemen, the tiger representing courage and the dragon water.