White Samurai Happi Coat 'Issen'

A samurai in ink silhouette in a red sun on white, his character brushed below

White is rare on a happi coat and this one uses it like paper. On the back, a red sun, and standing in it a samurai drawn in black ink silhouette, topknot and sword, with ink spattered at his feet and the character for samurai, 侍, brushed beneath. On the front, a second red sun is printed across the two fronts, so it splits when the coat hangs open and closes when it does not, with black ink drops falling from it. The rest of the coat is white, with a slubbed texture in the weave.

It is the most graphic coat in the range, three colours and a brush, and it reads from the far end of a street. It is also the coolest to wear in July, because white is.

The name, Issen, is a single flash, the one stroke of the sword and the one stroke of the brush, and the print is drawn as if with both.

It is printed, not painted, with the silhouette kept hard and the spatter kept as it fell. The cloth is polyester, woven with a slubbed, dry 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, falling to mid-thigh, with wide three-quarter sleeves, a flat collar band and no fastening. It hangs open over a white tee and stays open, with a slit at each side.

From across a street the back is a red circle with a black figure in it. From close the figure has a topknot and a sword guard, the spatter has single drops, and the character shows the brush. The front sun opens and closes as you move.

Wear it over a white tee and white trousers, as in the photograph, for all-white with one red circle, or over black to sharpen it. It is the coat for someone who wants one image and no clutter.

The collar band is flat and white, as on every happi, and on this coat it is the line the front sun splits along. The coat is longer and straighter than a haori, and in white with a slubbed weave it looks like a painter's coat, which on the back it is.

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.