The latest drop in Umbro’s ongoing collection dedicated to Japan national team captain Gaku Shibasaki is a special edition Accerator Pro featuring a graphic inspired by the famous Japanese Nebuta illustrations.
The U by Gaku is an ongoing collection dedicated to Gaku Shibasaki, who plays for CD Leganes, a Spanish Segunda Division club, and captains the Japanese national team. For the latest addition to this collection, Umbro Japan have created a special edition Accerator Pro, which features a graphic on its upper inspired by the famous Japanese Nebuta illustrations.
Gaku hails from the Aamori prefecture, which is famous for Nebuta Matsuri, a traditional festival held every year. The stars of this festival are the Nebuta – large, illuminated floats, featuring illustrations of brave, warrior-like figures.
The new Accerator boot has been updated with an illustration designed by Asako Kitamura, the first female Nebuta artist in Japan. The illustration on the boot is based on the figure of the well-known bushou warrior, who has been transformed into Gaku, holding a football and wearing boots. This is a real step change for this art form, which usually takes a very traditional approach and never alters the heroic figures to reflect an actual person. The design sits on the clean white base of the boot, which is accented by strong pops of red through the soleplate and branding.
The U by Gaku is exclusively available in Japan now.
