Japanese Firemen’s Coats (19th century)

Commoner's firefighting jacket decorated with a spider hovering
over an abandoned Go board. Link

Fires were a common threat in Edo period Japan (1615–1868). Traditional Japanese houses were made of wood and paper and built with little or no space in between. The fire brigades were socially segregated into samurais (buke hikeshi) or commoners (machi hikeshi) who would destroy the buildings surrounding the fire in an effort to contain it. Firefighters wore reversible multi-layered coats (hikeshi banten) with the name of their brigade on one side and elaborate imagery on the other. The coats would be worn plain-side out and thoroughly soaked in water before the firefighters entered the scene of the blaze.

Fireman's coat (19th century)  depicting the hero Musashibo Benkei's fight with an evil carp (Link)

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