Hannya Mask Happi Coat 'Onryo'

A hannya mask under a red sun on the back, line dragons on the front

A happi is the coat of the Japanese festival, straight-cut, open, with a flat band at the collar, and this one wears the festival's most dramatic face. On the back, a hannya mask in white with red horns and gold fangs grins under a red sun, a sword through its teeth, pink lilies and grey waves breaking round it, all in full colour. On the fronts and both sleeves, the colour is gone: dragons, waves and blossom are drawn in white line on the black, with two red characters at the chest, like a tattoo sketched before the ink.

Two coats, then, depending on which way you are facing. From the front it is graphic and quiet, black with white drawing. From behind it is the loudest thing in the street. That is a good way to build a coat for a crowd.

The name, Onryo, is the vengeful spirit of the Noh stage, the ghost the hannya mask was carved to play, jealous and grieving at once if you look at the eyes. This one has the look.

It is printed, not embroidered, with the back in flat, hard-edged colour and the fronts in a single white line. The cloth is polyester, firmly woven with a dry, matte hand and a clean drape, chosen because a happi is a coat for standing in a crowd in July and must stay light, hold a flat collar band and keep its print through a summer of washing. It is unlined.

The cut is the classic happi: straight through the body, longer than a haori, falling to mid-thigh, with wide three-quarter sleeves and no fastening. It hangs open over a white tee and stays open. There is a slit at each side seam for walking.

From across a street the back is a white face with red horns on black. From close the snake round the horns has scales, the lilies have stamens, and the white line dragons on the front have every whisker. It is drawn for people who look twice.

Wear it over a white tee and white or black trousers, as in the photograph, and nothing else with a print. Turn round slowly.

A happi differs from a haori in three places: the collar band is flat and never folds back, the body is longer and straighter, and the sleeves are cut in one with the body rather than set in. It is the coat of the crowd, not the tea room, and it should be worn like one.

Sizes run from S to 5XL. It is cut to Asian sizing and runs small, so take one size up from your usual. Between two sizes, take the larger.