---
node: garment_happi
type: garment
slug: happi
title: "Happi"
lead: "A happi is a straight-sleeved cotton coat worn open over other clothes, printed on the back with the crest of the house, trade or neighbourhood the wearer belongs to. It began as a servant's and firefighter's uniform and is now what a festival team wears."
published: 2026-08-17
updated: 2026-08-17
image_file: happi.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Festival4.jpg"
image_author: "Fg2"
image_license: "Public domain"
---

## Overview

The garment is a plain rectangle-cut coat to the hip or thigh, with wide straight sleeves and no fastening, made in indigo cotton and printed or dyed with a large crest across the shoulders. The crest is the content: a merchant house put its shop mark on the coats of its staff, a fire brigade its company number, a neighbourhood its name, so a crowd could be read at a glance. Edo firefighters wore a heavier quilted version, worn inside out after the fire so the plain side faced the street.

## How it is worn

It goes on like a jacket over whatever is underneath, left over right, and is worn open or closed with a narrow sash; the sleeves are cut straight so the arms can be pushed through and the whole thing thrown on in a moment. Nothing about it is fitted, which is why one size serves a whole team. At a festival it is worn over a shirt and shorts as often as over anything traditional, and the sash is what keeps it from flapping while carrying a portable shrine.

## History

The coat belongs to the Edo service trades — apprentices, porters, firefighters — and its name is usually derived from the *hanten*, the short workman's coat it closely resembles. The crest survived the trades: today it identifies festival teams, shop staff at an opening, and sports supporters, and Japanese companies still order them for events. It is one of the few Edo work garments that is worn in quantity in the present, and always for the same reason — to show which group the wearer is with.