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Nurses: On the Job

What do we see when we look closely?

Examine this commemorative postcard that depicts nurses working as stretcher-bearers produced by the Japanese Red Cross to celebrate the founding of the Red Cross by Henry Dunant in 1859.
Roll over different areas of the postcard to discover answers to the questions below.

    • Q1Can you identify the characteristics of the Japanese nursing uniform?
    • A1The nurses of the Japanese Red Cross wore uniforms specially designed for neatness and mobility.
    • Q2Can you spot the divided skirt?
    • A2A divided skirt gathered at the knee enables maximum flexibility while meeting cultural requirements for feminine modesty.
    • Q3How does the uniform differ from traditional Japanese dress?
    • A3Straight-lined robes known as kimonos are traditional Japanese garments. The Red Cross nurses' uniform, designed for efficiency, was ridiculed but after nurses' contributions during the Russo-Japanese war (1904–5), public perceptions began to change.
Five Japanese Red Cross female nurses in white carrying a stretcher in a field with building behind.
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A Japanese postcard commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Red Cross, 1959

    • Q1Can you identify the characteristics of the Japanese nursing uniform?
    • A1The nurses of the Japanese Red Cross wore uniforms specially designed for neatness and mobility.
    • Q2Can you spot the divided skirt?
    • A2A divided skirt gathered at the knee enables maximum flexibility while meeting cultural requirements for feminine modesty.
    • Q3How does the uniform differ from traditional Japanese dress?
    • A3Straight-lined robes known as kimonos are traditional Japanese garments. The Red Cross nurses' uniform, designed for efficiency, was ridiculed but after nurses' contributions during the Russo-Japanese war (1904–5), public perceptions began to change.
  • 1Can you identify the characteristics of the Japanese nursing uniform?
  • 2Can you spot the divided skirt?
  • 3How does the uniform differ from traditional Japanese dress?