Women sewing — 仕立てる女

Women Sewing — 仕立てる女 (a woman who sews or tailors) — depicts the domestic craft that was among the most common occupations of women in Meiji Japan, both within the household and as a paid skill. The sewing woman in Japanese art appears from the Heian period onward, associated with patience, care, and the production of the beautiful garments that the bijin-ga tradition otherwise depicts being worn. Hanko's figure engaged in this labor creates a rare departure from passive display into active domestic work, the woman's concentration on her task providing a different kind of psychological intensity.