Child carrying a younger child 2

The Japanese practice of having an older child carry a younger sibling—often a baby secured on the back with a wide cloth band—was a common sight in rural communities and urban shitamachi neighborhoods through the mid-twentieth century. Saito's treatment of this subject is notably tender for an artist known for severity: the double weight of the children, the careful balance of the carrier's stance, the intimacy of the arrangement reduced to essential geometric form without losing its human warmth.