Playing Music

"Playing Music" (1904) depicts women engaged in musical performance — whether the koto, shamisen, shakuhachi, or some combination of traditional instruments. Musical performance was both a valued feminine accomplishment and a social activity in Meiji Japan, and Shuntei renders the scene with attention to the specific postures and arrangements of traditional musical practice. The 1904 date suggests this is a later work in his career, when his style had achieved its mature refinement.