Sewing on a collar

This print depicts the domestic task of attaching a haneri — a decorative collar — to the inner juban worn beneath a kimono. The haneri was changed regularly to refresh the appearance of the kimono, and the act of sewing one on was a familiar private moment in pre-war Japanese women's daily life. Shinsui's domestic bijin-ga frequently center on tasks of this kind, with the woman bent forward, hands occupied, attention directed downward into the work. Compositionally these prints isolate the figure against a quiet ground, allowing the printer to give full attention to the kimono pattern, the contrast between fabric textures, and the small bright accent of the haneri itself. The treatment continues a thread running from Utamaro and Kiyonaga's images of women at toilet through to Goyo's bath prints, but reframed without the ukiyo-e tendency toward eroticized display. The print would have been issued through Watanabe Shozaburo using nishiki-e methods on hosho washi, with bokashi modeling on the face and hands.