Striped Cotton, Hand-Stitched: A Noragi from Early to Mid-Showa Japan
The striped noragi is one of the most enduring forms in Japanese workwear. Not because it was designed to be — but because it worked. The vertical stripe followed the warp of the loom, the cotton was durable, and the garment was made to be worn until it couldn’t be worn anymore.
This example comes from the early to mid-Showa period — somewhere between the 1930s and 1960s — and it was made entirely by hand. Every seam, every stitch, placed by someone who knew the cloth and knew the work it was being made for.
The Stripe: Simple, Structural, Lasting
The stripe pattern on this noragi is not decorative in any conventional sense. It is structural — a product of the loom, the warp threads running vertically through the cloth. In Showa-era workwear, the stripe was chosen because it was honest: it showed the fabric for what it was, and it aged well.
Decades of use have worked the surface of this cotton into something that cannot be replicated new. The color has settled, the hand has softened, and the stripe remains — quieter now, but still present. This is cloth that has earned its character.
Hand-Stitched Construction
Every seam in this garment was placed by hand. In the early to mid-Showa period, particularly in rural Japan, home sewing was still the norm — garments were made by the people who would wear them, from cloth they had woven or purchased at the local market.
Hand-stitched construction produces a garment with a particular quality: the stitches are not perfectly uniform, the tension varies, and the seams carry a give and a character that machine stitching cannot replicate. The Miyatsuguchi — the traditional side-body vents at the underarm — are present, placing this firmly within the full vocabulary of Japanese workwear construction.
Details, Condition, and Possibilities
Size: back length approx. 79 cm / 31.1 in, chest approx. 57.5 cm / 22.6 in, shoulder width approx. 59.5 cm / 23.4 in, sleeve length approx. 32 cm / 12.6 in.
Some soiling on the reverse side near the cuff area. Laundered twice prior to listing. A faint vintage scent may remain. This is a piece for those who understand the nature of antique textiles — and who see in that nature not a limitation, but a starting point.
Possibilities are wide: worn as a jacket over contemporary clothing, used as handmade or remake material, incorporated into textile art or stage costume. The hand-stitched striped cotton is of a quality and origin that simply cannot be sourced new.
One piece. One story. No two alike.