Ko-Sodate (Child Raising) (1)

Ko-sodate, or child-raising, was a subject used in late Meiji prints to idealize the role of women in the domestic sphere. This print likely depicts a mother or caregiver with a young child — nursing, bathing, or holding an infant — rendered in a format that emphasizes the intimacy of the maternal relationship. Shuntei's palette in such scenes typically uses soft, warm tones for skin and clothing, with the textile patterns of the kimono or obi printed in carefully registered [nishiki-e](/glossary/nishiki-e) colors. The composition may draw on earlier Edo-period precedents by artists such as Utamaro who treated mother-and-child subjects, while reflecting the Meiji-era ideological framing of women as nurturing figures within the household.