Women Sewing, Kitagawa Utamaro

A group of respectable married women, surrounded by their children and even a pet cat are working together on a hot summer's day folding and mending obi sashes. On the right, two of them stretch and fold a red silk sash tie-dyed with a white 'starfish' pattern while a young boy plays with the cat in the foreground. In the middle back, a woman holds what looks like a mesh or a wire box. On the left, a woman holds and inspects a sheer black obi with a child in her lap.