Kabuki Hero Tee

歌舞伎の勇者 (kabuki no yūsha): "the kabuki hero."

At the peak of a kabuki scene the lead actor stops dead, rolls his head and freezes in a glaring pose called a mie, while a stagehand at the side of the stage beats wooden clappers on a board. From the gallery at the back come the shouts of the ōmukō, regulars who call the actor's house name, like Naritaya for the Ichikawa Danjūrō line, right on the beat. Those big poses belong to aragoto, the bravura style the first Danjūrō made his own in the late 1600s.

A kabuki actor holds his pose on the front in a red-orange robe of checks and chrysanthemum crests over patterned blue hakama, one arm thrown up and the other hand on his sword. "Kabuki Hero" runs above him in cream, and there's no Japanese script to translate, only that loud costume on black.

Theater people get it straight away, and so does anyone who has sat through a long afternoon at the Kabukiza in Ginza. Wear it with black pants and boots for a night out, and see how it sits with our other graphic tees.

• Fabric: 100% combed cotton, 230gsm, pre-shrunk and soft-washed
• Print: direct-to-garment (DTG)
• Color: black
• Fit: unisex, regular; size up for a boxier, oversized look
• Sizes: S to 3XL
• Size reference: 6 ft 2 in wears L; 5 ft 7 in wears M

Measurements for every size are in the size guide.