A Japanese woman with baskets

A colourised portrait photograph of a Japanese woman. She half turned towards the right of the image, with her right shoulder closest to the camea. She is carrying a a wooden bowl or basket on her hip with its base facing the camear. She wears a short cape or raincoat made of straw covering her shoulders and upper torso, with a dress or apron over the top. She also has a scarf covering her head and some form of wooden sandals ('geta') on her feet. She carries two baskets on her back, the lower one larger than the other. She stands on the bare earth. A one-storey building with a doorwaycan be seen behind her. It has a thached roof that has what appears to be snow on it. This photograph is captioned jointly with ALB1020.31 and ALB1020.32; original caption (above, in ink): ‘Japan ~1909~ Cruise’.

Straw raincoats ('mino') were once widespread in Japan. Straw from rice plants is naturally water-repellant, abundant in rice-growing regions and ecologically sustainable.