New cotton kimono

This print depicts a woman wearing a freshly made cotton (momen) garment, a less formal alternative to silk that was associated with summer wear, with the casual indoor dress of married women, and with the cotton-producing regions whose fabrics — Kurume gasuri, Iyo gasuri, Yuki tsumugi — were prized for their patterning and feel. The image belongs to Shinsui's [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga) tradition of close attention to textile, in which the carver was required to render specific weave patterns and the printer to vary block pressure to suggest the matte texture of cotton against the sheen of silk. Like much of Shinsui's work, the print was issued through Watanabe Shozaburo and produced in limited editions on [hosho](/glossary/hosho) [washi](/glossary/washi) using [nishiki-e](/glossary/nishiki-e) methods. Within his oeuvre, the design fits among the unceremonious domestic studies — women dressing, sewing, attending to small daily tasks — that distinguish Shinsui's bijin-ga from the more theatrical maiko and courtesan subjects of earlier [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) generations.