File:AN OVERDRESS. (1910) - illustration - page 132.png

Image reference: "49"
Caption: "AN OVERDRESS. Quote: "At one time shawls were much in vogue and worn together with the hood; but they have of late fallen out of favour. Their place is taken by “azuma-coats,” which are overdresses worn over the kimono. They resemble the latter in form, except that they are looser and have much wider bands which come down to the skirt and dispense with gores altogether. In the latest forms the sleeves are very large; the front is double-breasted with the throat open; and the overlapping parts button at the breast by means of a loop and knot and are tied at the hip with a string. They are made of silk. They are vulgarly known as “rag-concealers,” as many women put them on when they go out to hide the shabby dresses underneath. Men’s favourite overcoat for the kimono is a kind of Inverness cape, with a long skirt to cover the kimono and large arm-holes for the sleeves. These are also made of wool. Among the lower classes there are still men in Tokyo who wear, as do peasants in the country, a straw rain-coat which covers the body and the sleeves, but leaves the legs bare; they are unpleasant neighbours in an electric car on a rainy day. The majority, however, especially coolies, messengers, and postmen, put on a coat shaped like the haori and made of waterproof oil-paper or rubber-cloth.

There is a great variety in umbrellas. The Japanese umbrella, as may be seen from the innumerable samples to be found the world over, has bamboo ribs and stem and is covered with oil-paper and surmounted with a thick paper cap into which the ribs run. It is a heavy clumsy article; and it cannot be used like the European umbrella, in place of a walking-stick in fine weather, as we should be afraid of knocking the cap off if either end touched the ground. It has to be carried with the handle downward after a rain to let the water drip off. Its only advantages are its cheapness and its size as it is large enough to shelter the whole body from rain. The common kind, such as is used by servants going out on an errand and by the poorer classes, is of plain oiled paper marked with the name, usually the first syllable, of its owner, and his trade sign if he is an artisan or tradesman, and sometimes his address as well. It can be readily identified; and one cannot therefore put up, as if it were one’s own, in broad daylight an umbrella with one’s neighbour’s name and address plainly written on it. Besides, as these umbrellas are very cheap, it would be hardly worth while making off with them.

Umbrellas of the better sort have black caps with concentric rings in black and red on the covering, though light-yellow rings are also to be found among them. They are known as “serpents’ eyes” from a fanciful resemblance thereto of these rings. They are, however, being superseded by foreign umbrellas with iron ribs and cloth covers which are more convenient to carry. Gigantic umbrellas are sometimes set up for shading street-stalls. Sunshades resemble the “serpents’ eyes” in form, except that the paper is not oiled and the centres and rings are blue or white; but they too are going out of use. The sunshades which find such a large sale abroad with gay pictures and flowers painted on them, are used in Japan by children only, especially by little girls.