ca. early to mid twentieth century
31" x 38", 79 cm x 96.5 cm

Really look at the detail photos accompanying this piece: the magic and beauty of this indigo dyed cotton noragi reside in the amazing mending to this coat.

The strange, bloated ellipses that are used as patches on the coat are applied on top of as well as under the base material of the coat.  More than that, notice how the mender extended the sashiko stitching through the mending patches in order to create the illusion of continuity!  Quite remarkable.

And wonderful, too, is that lattice work of sashiko stitching on the top third of the coat, ostensibly to provide extra strength against the wear of burden that was being carried: in looking at the back of the coat, notice the faint, strange, large "X" of light fading to the back of the piece, which seems to indicate that something was strapped to the person who owned this coat.  The mendings to the areas around the back of the neck are also indicative that a kind of burden was slung over the body.

This coat is from the collection of a collector of Japanese folk textiles: the collector bought this piece in 1996 from the owner of the jacket (!) who resided in Tochigi Prefecture.

Very, very recommended.