Charcoal Foot Warmer

A woman warms herself at a hibachi or hand-warmer filled with glowing charcoal, the warmth visible only in the reddish glow of the coals and the relaxation of the woman's posture against the cold of January 1923. The charcoal foot warmer (kotatsu or hibachi) was a central element of Japanese winter domestic life before modern heating, and Shinsui's choice to depict a woman in this intimate moment of warming herself gives the print an immediacy of lived experience. The early winter date places this in the same period as the Great Kanto Earthquake, though it was published before the disaster.