A JAPANESE FIREMAN'S KAJI-HAORI (JACKET)

A JAPANESE FIREMAN'S KAJI-HAORI (JACKET), MUNEATE (BREASTPLATE), AND FRAMED LINER

EDO PERIOD, 19TH CENTURY

The garment and plastron made of woven cotton fabric dyed a light blue colour, both with white appliqués with raised gold embroidered edges in the shape of three-branch star mon crests, the top of the breastplate with further formal designs and the back with a stylised reishi head, a paper lining to the inside which has been removed, framed and glazed, with many lines of calligraphy referring to the fire station and dated 'middle of the ninth month, Bunkyu 3 (1863)', the jacket 124.5cm x 99cm, the frame 99cm x 137cm. (3)

Cf. M Bincsik, The MET Museum New York, Kimono Style, Edo Traditions to Modern Design, The John C. Weber Collection, pp.78-79 no.12 for an example of a firefighter's ensemble similarly decorated in a simple manner with family crests to the back of the jacket and to the plastron. The author explains that the ensemble would not have been used to extinguish fires, but to safeguard the area and possibly give instructions to firefighters.

The framed document refers to a person associated with the Seikanji Temple, commonly known as the Utanakayana Temple, in eastern Kyoto (now in Higashiyama ward, Rakuto area).