Raincoat - Kappa

An accessory that serves both as rain gear and cold weather gear. The word kappa comes from the Portuguese word cápa, with "kappa" being a phonetic spelling. It was imported to Japan in the second half of the 15th century along with Nanban culture. Until then, Japan's cold weather and rain gear consisted of raincoats (mino) woven from vegetable fibers, but kappa were originally called "Nanban mino" (Nanban mino) because of the similarity between mino and kappa. Kappa are called "maru kappa" (round raincoat) because they form a circle when spread out, and they were also called "bozu kappa" (monk's raincoat) because they were worn by Nanban monks. Made from woolen cloth, they come in black, red, yellow, green, and other colors, with the scarlet ones being called "shojohi" (scarlet scarlet) and considered the highest quality. It is well known that Toyotomi Hideyoshi invited a Nanban monk to the completion of Osaka Castle, and was amazed to see raincoats hanging from each floor of the castle tower. A favorite of Uesugi Kenshin, made of purple velvet with gold trim, is currently kept at Uesugi Shrine in Yonezawa City, Yamagata Prefecture, and the Mito Tokugawa family also has green ramie products. Ramie was an imported product and expensive, so in Japan, paper raincoats and paulownia oil raincoats were made by joining pieces of Japanese paper together using bracken paste and applying paulownia oil and persimmon tannins to the top. Later, mawashi raincoats were made with striped cotton on the outside and kasuri cotton on the inside, with waterproof tannin paper lining, and these were called himawari and were used by common people on the road. However, mawashi raincoats were inconvenient to wear with kimonos, so raincoats made to fit kimonos were invented; these were called sode raincoats and were worn by both men and women.

From the mid-Edo period onwards, expensive sleeve raincoats made of woolen cloth gradually became common. Raincoats were called long raincoats or half raincoats depending on their length, and some men among the lower classes and common people made do with half raincoats. As raincoats became more widespread, women began to make raincoats out of high-quality fabrics, calling them ozashiki raincoats or hifu. Hifu was the predecessor to the later hifu, and the popularity of hifu reached such an extent that women were banned from wearing haori. Raincoats with a square collar and short length were used by falconers and falconers, and were incorporated into Kanpei's costume in the kabuki play Chushingura, and Okaru borrowed one from a doyuki and wore it, so the raincoat came to be called "doyuki." As raincoats became more widespread from the Meiji period to the Taisho period, the demand for raincoats gradually decreased, sharing the same fate as Japanese clothing.

[Takeshi Endo]

"Takeshi Endo, 'Considerations on Clothing Brought to Japan from the South Seas' (included in the Bulletin of Wayo Women's University, Vol. 4, 1956)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

雨具と防寒具を兼ねた服飾品。合羽はポルトガル語のcápaから出たことばで、「合羽」は当て字である。わが国には15世紀の後半、南蛮文化とともに舶載された。それまでわが国の防寒、防雨具は、植物繊維で編んだ蓑(みの)であったが、合羽が当初「南蛮蓑」とよばれたのは、蓑と合羽の相似性のゆえである。合羽は広げると円形になるので丸合羽といわれ、また南蛮僧が着用していたところから坊主合羽ともいわれた。羅紗(らしゃ)製で、色は黒、赤、黄、緑などがあり、緋(ひ)色のものをとくに「猩々緋(しょうじょうひ)」とよんで、最高級品とした。豊臣(とよとみ)秀吉が、大坂城落成のおりに招待した南蛮僧が、天守閣の各層に合羽が下がっているのをみて驚嘆した話は有名である。紫ビロード地に周囲を金モールで飾った上杉謙信(けんしん)遺愛のものが、現在山形県米沢(よねざわ)市の上杉神社に蔵されており、水戸徳川家にも緑羅紗製品のものが残されている。羅紗は輸入品であり、そのうえ高価なものであったから、わが国では、わらび糊(のり)を使って和紙を継ぎ合わせて、その上に桐油(とうゆ)と柿渋(かきしぶ)を引いた紙合羽、桐油合羽がつくられた。のちには縞(しま)木綿を表に、絣(かすり)木綿を裏にして、防水用の渋紙を中入(なかいれ)にした廻(まわ)し合羽がつくられ、これを引き廻しともいって庶民の道中用にした。しかし、廻し合羽は着物には不便なので、着物仕立ての合羽が考案され、これを袖(そで)合羽とよんで男女とも利用した。

　江戸時代中期以降になると、羅紗を使った高価な袖合羽もしだいに一般化した。合羽は丈の長短により長合羽、半合羽といわれ、小者や庶民の間では半合羽ですませる男性もいた。合羽の普及に伴い、女性は雨具よりも防寒用具として高級織物でつくり、これをお座敷合羽あるいは被風(ひふ)とよんで利用した。被風は後の被布の前身であり、被風の流行は女の羽織を禁止するほどまでに至った。合羽の襟を角襟として、丈の短いものが、鷹匠(たかしょう)や餌差(えさ)しなどの人たちの間で用いられ、これが歌舞伎(かぶき)の『忠臣蔵』の勘平の扮装(ふんそう)に取り入れられ、お軽が道行に借用して着たところから、この合羽を「道行」というようになった。明治から大正にかけレインコートの普及に伴い合羽の需要はしだいに減少し、和服とその運命をともにしている。

［遠藤　武］

『遠藤武「南蛮伝来服飾考」（『和洋女子大学紀要』第4集所収・1956）』

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