A kasa is any one of several traditional hats.
Grammar and etymology
is the correct way to pronounce the word when it stands alone. causes to change to when it is preceded by another word specifying the type of hat, as in .
shares its etymology with the Japanese word for "umbrella" (also pronounced , but written as ).
Types of
A number of different styles of exist. Varieties of were used throughout most all levels of Japanese society.
Some types of include:
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Ajirogasa: a wickerwork made of shaven bamboo or wood.
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Amigasa: a wickerwork . An is a straw hat of the type traditionally worn in some Japanese folk dances.
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Fukaamigasa: a deep wickerwork .
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Jingasa: a type of commonly worn by samurai and ashigaru. The samurai class in feudal Japan, as well as their retainers and footsoldiers, used several types of made from iron, copper, wood, paper, bamboo, or leather.
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Rōningasa: typically a conical with a flat top, often worn by .
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Sandogasa: a bamboo for traveling with a wide, flat shape that offered protection from the sun and rain. Favored by , couriers who regularly traveled between Edo and Kyoto.
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Sugegasa: a conical, pointed wickerwork made of sedge. This hat shape is called a nón lá in Vietnam or do'un in Cambodia.
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Takuhatsugasa: a Buddhist mendicant's . A woven rice-straw worn by mendicant bhikkhu, the is made overlarge and in a bowl or mushroom shape. Unlike an Asian conical hat, it does not come to a point, nor does it ride high on the head like a samurai's traveling hat, instead covering the upper half to two-thirds of the face, masking the identity of the monk and allowing him to travel undistracted on his journey.
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Tengai: (see )
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Torioigasa: a folded , worn for the Awa Dance Festival.
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Yagyūgasa: the family crest of Yagyū clan, not an actual kind of .
==Gallery==
See also
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("Yataro's Travel Hat"), a 1957 film by Kazuo Mori
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List of hat styles
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Asian conical hat
External links
