Jacket with Octopus

With its many long arms, the octopus lends itself to a tantalizing design, with the front of this garment displaying tentacles and the back revealing the face. An octopus motif sometimes appears on costumes for the role of the Catfish Priest, a sidekick of the main villain in the Kabuki play Shibaraku (Stop a Moment!). It is also seen in genre painting during the 1600s as a logo on the uniforms of transportation staff, perhaps indicating just how much they can carry. This jacket may have recycled the idea as a fashion statement.