Article of the Week - number fifty-six - a man's kimono

The haori is a short jacket that is worn open over a Japanese kimono.

In this formalwear example from the collection the piece is black with white emblems, kamon, on the front and back (pictured below). It is the interior though that reveals a surprise.  The lining has been painted with a scene depicting an elephant and its attendants, swarming all around and over the animal, cleaning and paying respect to it!

Note: these, and all other photographs of Articles of the Week, were taken two years ago in the studio for the collection records. They were not intended for publication but as the collection is not available at present, they have been used on the blog. Apologies for the quality and orientation of some of them.