Not currently on display at the V&A

Jacket

1880-1920 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This colourful jacket would probably have been worn on a festive occasion. The motifs - a samurai helmet and arrows - are associated with the Boys Festival, which takes place on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. The pattern has been created using a technique called ‘tsutsugaki’. In this method a design is drawn on the cloth with paste squeezed from a tube (tsutsu). The tube is made from paper treated with persimmon juice to make it water resistant; it has a nozzle of bamboo or metal through which the paste is extruded. The paste, made of rice flour, lime and water, forms a protective coating that prevents the colour penetrating when the cloth is dyed.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Cotton with resist-dyed decoration
Brief description
Sleeveless jacket, cotton with freehand paste-resist decoration, Japan, 1880-1920
Physical description
Sleeveless jacket of cotton bearing all-over large-scale motifs of a samurai helmet, arrows, shishi (mythical lion) and peonies in shades of blue and red on a dark blue ground. The design is executed in the resist-dye technique knoen as tsutsugaki (tube drawing). The jacket is simply cut in the usual Japanese style with a centre back seam and no shoulder seams. There are no inserts at the front but a long collar band extends almost to the bottom of the jacket. The collar band and the armholes are faced with undyed soft cotton which is sewn to the jacket with alternating long and short straight stitches in thick white cotton thread. The armholes are open to a depth of 39 cms.
The jacket is unlined.
Dimensions
  • Length: 76cm
  • Width: 62cm
Gallery label
Sleeveless jacket with military motifs 1900–30 This colourful jacket would have been worn on a celebratory occasion, the military motifs suggesting the Boys’ Day Festival in May. The pattern was created using the tsutsugaki freehand paste-resist dyeing technique. The fine lines of the design are drawn on the cloth with rice paste squeezed from a tube. The paste forms a protective coating that prevents colour penetrating when the fabric is dyed. Cotton with freehand paste-resist dyeing (tsutsugaki) Museum no. FE.103-1982 (04/11/2015)
Object history
Purchased. Registered File number 1982/1022.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This colourful jacket would probably have been worn on a festive occasion. The motifs - a samurai helmet and arrows - are associated with the Boys Festival, which takes place on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. The pattern has been created using a technique called ‘tsutsugaki’. In this method a design is drawn on the cloth with paste squeezed from a tube (tsutsu). The tube is made from paper treated with persimmon juice to make it water resistant; it has a nozzle of bamboo or metal through which the paste is extruded. The paste, made of rice flour, lime and water, forms a protective coating that prevents the colour penetrating when the cloth is dyed.
Bibliographic references
  • Wilson, Verity, 'Country textiles from Japan and the Ryukyu Islands in the Victoria and Albert Museum', Orientations, July 1983, p.33, fig. 9.
  • Jackson, Anna, Japanese Country Textiles, London: V&A Publications, 1997, page 45, fig 26
Collection
Accession number
FE.103-1982

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Record createdFebruary 12, 2000
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