Woman Seated on a Pillow Before a Low Dressing Table, Taishô period, dated 1918 (7th month of Taishô 9)

A woman seated on a cushion before a low dressing table — the mirror and cosmetic implements before her, her posture that of quiet, focused preparation — one of Goyo's 1920 toilet subjects from the seventh month of Taisho 9. The low dressing table (kyodai) was the defining furniture of feminine private space in traditional Japanese life, and Goyo's seated women before their mirrors occupy this charged domestic environment with complete absorption. The cushion beneath the figure adds a quality of domestic comfort to what is also an act of self-construction.