Snug in Seal

The inhabitants of Japan's northernmost island enjoy cold that pierces and snow that blows, but the indigenous Ainu woman who possessed this...

The inhabitants of Japan's northernmost island enjoy cold that pierces and snow that blows, but the indigenous Ainu woman who possessed this sealskin coat could scoff at wretched weather and draw admiring glances simultaneously. She might have chosen to wrap herself in the skin of bears, creatures central to the Ainu lifestyle, but sealskin is lighter, harder-wearing, and more water-resistant than other furs.

The coat-maker pieced together in a decorative pattern the skin of perhaps only one seal, if it was a big one. The dark fur in front at center is from the seal's back. The chest and arms of the garment are the hindquarters of the animal. The lighter fur from its belly is at back. Above the coat waist, the lie of the fur is up; below, it is down; light plays differently top and bottom. Fabric appliqué and embroidery, now somewhat faded, decorate the shoulder bands, wrist bands, collar, and front, and a bit of fox fur is at shoulders and wrists. Light and dark blue glass beads adorn the shoulder bands.

Photograph by Stephen Sherman / Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology

The Ainu are aborigines of Japan, forced by the Japanese gradually to retreat north to Hokkaido and the Russian Kuril Islands and Sakhalin. After the Meiji restoration in 1868, Japan began to populate Hokkaido with Japanese to firm the northern frontier. The government effectively removed all Ainu lands from their control and offered homesteads to Japanese. New laws compelled the Ainu to speak Japanese, and practicing old customs was prohibited.

Wishing to encourage agriculture on Hokkaido, the Japanese persuaded American experts from regions of similarly unsuitable climate to advise them. In 1877 William P. Brooks of Massachusetts journeyed to Hokkaido's newly founded capital city, Sapporo, to help establish the Sapporo Agricultural College. Brooks eventually served four years as president of the college, now part of Hokkaido University. When he left Japan in 1888 to become professor of agriculture at the Massachusetts Agricultural College — and for two years its president — he brought home the honor of the Fourth Order of the Rising Sun, given him by the emperor; the Japanese soybean; and this sealskin coat, now at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.

The age of the coat is not known. One might simply think of it as pre-politically correct, but that would be naive, for sealskin coats are still the rage, favored by the Danish royal court and simple folk as well. A recent fashion piece in the New York Times featured a photograph of a model in an allegedly Inuit-inspired coat by Louis Vuitton, alongside the headline "Sealskin is a girl's best friend."

     

Most popular

How MAGA Went Mainstream at Harvard

Trump, TikTok, and the pandemic are reshaping Gen Z politics.

Bringing Korean Stories to Life

Composer Julia Riew writes the musicals she needed to see.

Jodie Foster Honored at Radcliffe Day 2025

The actress and director discussed her film career and her transformative time at Yale.

Explore More From Current Issue

Catherine Zipf smiling, wearing striped shirt and dark sweater outdoors.

Preserving the History of Jim Crow Era Safe Havens

Architectural historian Catherine Zipf is building a database of Green Book sites.  

Whimsical illustration of students rushing through ornate campus gate from bus marked “Welcome New Students.”

Highlights from Harvard’s Past

The Medical School goes coed, University poet wins Nobel Prize. 

Brandon Terry, wearing a blue suit, standing before The Embrace, a large bronze sculpture of intertwined arms in Boston Common.

A New Narrative of Civil Rights

Political philosopher Brandon Terry’s vision of racial progress