Women Washing, Rinsing, and Fulling Cloth by a Stream

Reflecting the popularity of idealized scenes of beautiful women performing domestic chores, this triptych shows women cleaning bolts of cloth, probably silks or linens. In buckets on either side of the stream the cloths soak in soap or bleach. In the center, a trio of women rinse out the cloth in the moving water, then wring it out by stepping on it on a flat rock. On the left, two women pound fabrics in a stone or wooden receptacle with a type of mallet to bring out the silk’s gloss. At the far right, another woman rolls and smooths the bolts of cloth for transportation and storage.

Images of beating cloth or rinsing fabrics in a river carry associations with the classical theme of the “Six Jewel Rivers” (Mu-Tamagawa 六玉川), or six famous rivers in Japan bearing the name Tamagawa. The term Mu-Tamagawa is an example of an utamakura歌枕, or poem pillow, often a place name used in poetry as a shorthand to allude to a set of meanings and associations.