There Is Red in It: A Showa Noragi in Charcoal and Red Stripe, with an Indigo Collar
Most Showa noragi are indigo. The indigo stripe, the indigo kasuri, the indigo plain — the blue-black of indigo-dyed cotton is the dominant color of Japanese agricultural workwear, for reasons that are practical as well as aesthetic: indigo dye has antibacterial properties, repels insects, and was widely available in rural Japan. When you see a noragi in a color other than indigo, you notice it. The red stripes on this noragi are not decoration; they are a statement. Someone chose this fabric. Someone decided that the garment they were making for work would have red in it.
The stripe combines deep charcoal gray and red — a powerful and distinctive combination that is unlike anything in the standard palette of Showa workwear. The red subtly stands out against the darker base, giving the garment a bold yet balanced appearance. The collar is indigo-dyed cotton — a deliberate contrast with the striped body, the blue-black of the collar framing the charcoal and red of the fabric. The garment is hand stitched. The miyatsuguchi is present. The length is 72cm, the chest 60cm, the shoulder 62cm, the sleeve 33cm, the cuff 17cm. Wear, fading, stains, and age-related damage are present. Washed twice in-house.
The Indigo Collar: A Contrast That Was Chosen
The collar of this noragi is indigo-dyed cotton — a different fabric from the striped body, chosen specifically for the collar. This is a detail that appears on many noragi: the collar made from a contrasting fabric, the body and the collar in dialogue with each other. In this case, the dialogue is between the charcoal-and-red stripe of the body and the blue-black of the indigo collar — a contrast that is both visual and material, the two fabrics different in color, in texture, in the way they age.
The indigo collar frames the face. It is the part of the garment that is most visible when the noragi is worn, the part that sits closest to the skin, the part that takes the most wear from the friction of the neck and the repeated washing that friction requires. An indigo collar on a striped noragi is a practical choice as well as an aesthetic one: indigo cotton is durable, the dye does not show dirt, the fabric holds up to repeated washing. But it is also a choice that creates a specific visual effect — the dark collar against the lighter stripe, the blue against the charcoal and red, the contrast that makes the garment look considered rather than simply functional.
Red in the Field: Color as Identity
The choice of a fabric with red stripes for a work garment is not a neutral choice. Red is visible. Red stands out in a field, against soil, against the green of crops. A person wearing a red-striped noragi is identifiable at a distance in a way that a person wearing an indigo noragi is not. This may have been practical — a way of being seen, of being identified, of standing out from the other workers in the field. Or it may have been personal — a preference, a statement, a small act of individuality within the constraints of workwear.
We do not know which it was. What we know is that someone chose this fabric, made this garment, wore it through the years that have given it its current condition — the wear, the fading, the stains, the age-related damage that are the marks of actual use. The red stripes have faded somewhat from their original intensity, but they are still present, still visible, still doing what they were chosen to do: standing out against the darker ground, making the garment something other than ordinary.
Size and Condition
Era: Early to mid-Showa (approx. 1926–1960s). Material: Cotton (charcoal gray and red stripe body, indigo collar). Hand stitched. Miyatsuguchi: present. Back length approx. 72cm / 28.3in. Chest approx. 60cm / 23.6in. Shoulder width approx. 62cm / 24.4in. Sleeve length approx. 33cm / 13.0in. Sleeve width approx. 28cm / 11.0in. Cuff width approx. 17cm / 6.7in. Wear, fading, stains, and age-related damage present. Washed twice in-house. Vintage scent may remain. One of a kind.