Short jacket for the Gion Festival (Gion matsuri happi), early 20th century
Unknown Japaneseexpand_more
Cloth: hemp; katazome (stencil resist)expand_more
The John R. Van Derlip Fund and the Mary Griggs Burke Endowment Fund established by the Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation; purchase from the Thomas Murray Collectionexpand_more 2019.20.135
Not on Viewexpand_more
A collection of stamps and characters on this short jacket (happi) reveals its wearer to be a participant in the annual Gion Festival in Kyoto. Spanning the entire month of July, the festival features elaborate parades with towering floats on wheels, presented by residents of various districts in the city. While some paradegoers ride the floats, many more march alongside or pull them, all in coordinated clothing to project their connection to their district and one another.
This jacket of plain-weave hemp has a repeating pattern of intersected triangles dyed with indigo using a stencil (katazome). A black triangle stamp on the left lapel, no longer legible, would have identified the group to which this individual belonged, while the red mark below was the festival participation seal. The five hand-painted characters on the right lapel read “number 141” (百四拾壹號); this is the number of the group whose member would have worn the garment.
Details
- Title
- Short jacket for the Gion Festival (Gion matsuri happi)
- Role
- Maker
- Accession Number
- 2019.20.135
- Catalogue Raisonne
- Murray et al. 2018, pl. 84
- Curator Approved
This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.
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