Japanese cloaks

[Nick]

Hey all... did the Japanese have anything resembling a cloak, etc? Perhaps a hooded kimono, or something like that?

Thanks,

Nick

[hikari]

The manto? (BTW, that word looks like a Portuguese/ Spanish loan)

[Jeff Hamacher]

Originally posted by hikari
The manto? (BTW, that word looks like a Portuguese/ Spanish loan)
that was definitely a post-Meiji Restoration example of the japanese trying to absorb european culture, and it is a portuguese/spanish/french/etc. loan word. i don't know if the japanese have any traditional article of clothing like a cloak. they did have those delightful straw raincoats ...:D

[joe yang]

There is a small, almost ornamental cape, not really a cloak, once favored by warriors on horseback. I believe it was worn tied at the throat and at the waste. It billowed out behind like a small parachute. I'm pretty sure it was an affectation. I've got a sketch somewhere of a party of horsemen dressed this way. I'm still looking for it. A couple of the brigands may be wearing this item when they first appear in Seven Samurai. I don't think it's what you are looking for. Sorry.

[Don Cunningham]

I don't know the name of them, but the jidai-geki (historical drama) movies always show the wandering gamblers (yakuza) wearing these sort of short, blue-and-white striped cloaks that tie at the neck. When I was in Kumomoto, there was a store that sold costume stuff like the fake samurai rubber hair that you can put on and looks like a shaved pate and hair of a samurai. They also had these cloaks and straw hats that the travelors are usually wearing in the television and movies. They are waist length and just basically a piece of cloth with tie cords at the neck. Usually you see them when they throw them off along with their straw hats before a big fight scene. Sorry, but I don't know the name of these cloaks.

[Don Cunningham]

I finally found a picture of one of these Japanese cloaks worn by travelers during the Edo period. I believe it was called a tabigarasu.

http://www.shop-japan.co.jp/english-boku/image-e/tabigarasu-.gif