Japanese Umbrella

Wooden frame, red-lacquered cap, printed canopy: the wagasa Japanese parasol for shade

Fifteen parasols in the wagasa shape: a wooden frame, a red-lacquered cap and a paper-effect cloth canopy printed with cherry blossom, peonies, a maiko and wild geese, or an ink landscape. Made for shade and for the photograph, not for rain.

Sky Blue Sakura Wagasa Umbrella 'Harusora'

Sky Blue Sakura Wagasa Umbrella 'Harusora'

$35.00
Plum Blossom Paper Umbrella 'Umezono'

Plum Blossom Paper Umbrella 'Umezono'

$35.00
White Japanese Parasol 'Aohana'

White Japanese Parasol 'Aohana'

$35.00
Cream Peony Oil Paper Umbrella 'Botanmai'

Cream Peony Oil Paper Umbrella 'Botanmai'

$35.00
Blue and White Traditional Wagasa 'Aizome'

Blue and White Traditional Wagasa 'Aizome'

$35.00
Magnolia Japanese Style Umbrella 'Mokuren'

Magnolia Japanese Style Umbrella 'Mokuren'

$35.00
Pink Sakura Japanese Umbrella 'Sakurairo'

Pink Sakura Japanese Umbrella 'Sakurairo'

$35.00
Peach Blossom Wagasa Parasol 'Momozono'

Peach Blossom Wagasa Parasol 'Momozono'

$35.00
Lotus Bridge Japanese Umbrella 'Hasuhashi'

Lotus Bridge Japanese Umbrella 'Hasuhashi'

$35.00
Blue Landscape Paper Parasol 'Sansui'

Blue Landscape Paper Parasol 'Sansui'

$35.00
Red Japanese Umbrella 'Benigasa'

Red Japanese Umbrella 'Benigasa'

$35.00
Geisha Fan Japanese Parasol 'Senmen'

Geisha Fan Japanese Parasol 'Senmen'

$35.00
Maiko Wild Geese Umbrella 'Karigane'

Maiko Wild Geese Umbrella 'Karigane'

$35.00
Golden Kimono Lady Umbrella 'Kinbijin'

Golden Kimono Lady Umbrella 'Kinbijin'

$35.00
Green Kimono Portrait Umbrella 'Aobijin'

Green Kimono Portrait Umbrella 'Aobijin'

$35.00

ABOUT THIS COLLECTION

The wagasa is the Japanese umbrella: a frame of many thin wooden ribs radiating from a central shaft, a red-lacquered cap at the top, and a canopy of oiled paper that opens to a shallow dome. It was made for rain and for sun, it is the umbrella in every ukiyo-e print of a woman crossing a bridge, and it is still carried in Kyoto by people who want to be seen carrying it. Fifteen here, with a wooden frame, the lacquered cap and a paper-effect cloth canopy printed with blossom, peonies, a maiko or an ink landscape, made for shade and for the photograph rather than for the rain.

What a wagasa is, and what these are

A traditional wagasa has thirty to fifty bamboo ribs, a paper canopy oiled against water, a cord to hold it closed and a red lacquer cap; the finest ones take a craftsman a month. Ours keep the shape, the wooden frame, the shallow dome and the red cap, and replace the oiled paper with a printed paper-effect cloth that does not tear and does not need oiling. They are parasols: they shade, they colour the light under them, they open a photograph, and they will take a shower without complaint, but a storm is for a Western umbrella. The folding fan is the other summer object; the yukata is what they are carried with.

The fifteen canopies

Sky blue with pink cherry blossom branches over a pale moon. White with red plum blossom on black branches, a magpie and four brushed characters. White with blue peonies in the manner of blue-and-white porcelain, and white with indigo peonies massed round the edge. Cream with red and pink peonies, a hummingbird and a blue bird; cream with pink magnolia and two swallows. Pale pink with cherry blossom at the top and petals falling into a drift at the bottom. Yellow shading to pink with a black plum branch and two birds. White with an ink landscape of a bridge, willows and a lotus; white with mountains, pines and pavilions in blue ink and a column of calligraphy. Bright red with pink and red peonies across the upper half. And the portraits: a woman in a kimono holding a fan on peach, a seated maiko with two wild geese on yellow, a woman at her dressing table on gold, a standing woman in a green kimono on pale blue-white, all in the manner of the old prints.

Canopy	Reads as	Carry it with
Blossom, plum, magnolia	Spring	A pale yukata, a summer dress
Peonies, blue-and-white	Porcelain, formal	A kimono, the photograph
Ink landscape	Quiet, scholarly	A plain kimono, a linen shirt
Red with peonies	The festival	A yukata, a happi
Kimono portraits	Ukiyo-e, the wall	A stand, or a hand

How to carry a wagasa

Open it with the runner, not by forcing the ribs, and hold it a little behind the head rather than straight above, which is the angle in every print and the one that lights the face. Closed, it hangs from the wrist by its cord or leans in the umbrella stand by the door, where it is furniture. Open on a wall, pinned by the cap, it is a print with a frame built in. It is carried with a yukata to a summer festival, with a kimono for a photograph, and with a plain linen dress on any hot afternoon by anyone who does not mind being looked at.

Care

Dry it open after a shower and close it only when dry; store it closed, loosely, out of the sun, which fades the print. Wipe the wood with a dry cloth. Do not use it in wind. Made to Japanese designs in Asia, with a wooden frame and a printed paper-effect cloth canopy as stated on each page.