Koi and Wave Sukajan 'Namigashira'

Two red koi on the chest, a koi over white waves behind, black and white

Black and white with red fish is the cleanest palette in the range. Two red koi face each other on the chest, one on each side of the zip, and on the back a red koi leaps upward over a smaller blue one with white waves breaking across the hem in silver thread and curling up both sleeves. The body is black, the sleeves white, the ribbing black and white. Nothing on it is a fourth colour.

It is the koi sukajan for someone who wants the fish and not the blossom, and the white sleeves keep the whole jacket light enough for a summer evening.

The name, Namigashira, is the wave crest, the white foam across the hem that the fish is jumping out of.

Every motif is embroidered, not printed, in dense satin stitch that stands off the cloth and catches the light as you move; that is the point of a sukajan, and it is why the jacket weighs what it does. The body is a satin blend with a soft sheen and a light quilted lining, and the collar, cuffs and hem are a ribbed knit, the construction of every sukajan since the first ones were sewn for American sailors in Yokosuka. It zips at the front and has a slash pocket at each hip. It washes cold, inside out, on a gentle cycle, and dries flat.

Wear it over a white tee and white trousers, as in the photograph, for an outfit that is black, white and two red fish, or over black to make the white sleeves the light. Nothing else with a pattern.

From across a street it is a black-and-white bomber with red on the chest. From close the koi have every scale in two reds, the waves every curl in silver, and the small blue fish its fins. It is the sukajan that looks most like a flag, and it is a good flag.

The sleeves are set in raglan, and the waves on the back run onto the white satin of the arms in silver thread, so the sleeves carry the foam down to the elbow. The two koi on the chest face inward, and they meet at the zip when it is closed, which is how the design was drawn.

The white satin is a warm ivory rather than a bright white, so it sits with the black without flashing, and the ribbing repeats the two colours in stripes at the collar, cuffs and hem.

Sizes run from M to 3XL. It is cut to Asian sizing and runs small, so take one size up from your usual. Between two sizes, take the larger.