When you visit the newly expanded Portland Japanese Garden, you'll notice garden staff and volunteers all wearing Japanese happi coats. These traditional cotton coats, are boxy handsome numbers with three-quarter length sleeves, historically worn to festivals, often with a family crest on the back. Here at PGF, we were excited to learn about this celebrated garment while making the new happi coats for the Portland Japanese Garden (images above!). A hearty thank you to the staff and volunteers who let us snap a few pics of the happi coats in action!
A few images below survey the happi coat from traditional portraits, to the 1966 arrival of The Beatles in Japan.