Reversible Black Silk Kimono Jacket, Hand-Printed Ukiyo-e Beauties

Price available upon request. This piece is currently being reviewed for museum acquisition; serious inquiries from private collectors welcome.

A formal men’s montsuki haori in black silk, distinguished by five white family crests (itsutsu-mon): the highest tier of formality in traditional Japanese menswear, with crests at back, both sleeves, and both chest panels. The crest is a heart-shaped leaf motif ringed in white (likely an aoi/wild-ginger or myōga family variant). Outwardly austere and ceremonial; the drama is concealed inside. The full lining reveals a painted ukiyo-e bijin-ga scene: two women at the water’s edge, one wringing a crimson wrap, the other kneeling with a woven basket, rendered in the Utamaro/Eishi bathing-scene tradition. This “secret lining” (ura) was a hallmark of iki: restraint on the surface, private indulgence within, glimpsed only in movement. Worn open as a duster or layering robe, the ukiyo-e becomes the whole point.

Estimated era: Shōwa period, c. 1950s–1960s. Smooth lustrous silk (habutae or fine crepe); the lining reads as a dye-printed ukiyo-e rather than hand-painted yuzen.

Length: 35.5in

Carrying the soft patina that only time can give; significant flaws are always detailed. Minor stitching marks on the interior, shown in photo.