'Washerwomen in Settsu' by Utagawa Hiroshige, 1857. From the series 'The Nation's Six Jewel Rivers'. This image is also available on:
'Tamagawa' (Jewel River) is a popular name for rivers and streams in Japan, applied to those with particularly crystal clear waters. However, historically there was a particular selection famed across the country for their beauty and purity, known collectively as the 'Six Jewel Rivers' (六玉川). They featured prominently in Japanese poetry, as part of a collection of place names used for the rhetorical technique 'utamakura', that is, invoking a particular idea simply by mentioning a place name.
The Jewel River featured in this picture is the one that flows through Takatsuki City, now a part of Osaka, formerly in the old province of Settsu. Hiroshige is perhaps applying a bit of artistic licence here in having his washerwomen out working in the middle of the night, but it allows him to paint the scene lit by a full moon - an allusion to the fact that 'Takatsuki' literally means 'high moon'. The Japanese title, 拙津擣衣, more literally translated means 'Hitting Clothes in Settsu', a reference to the method used to wash and smooth out the clothes: wrapping them around sticks, stretching them out over a rock, and beating them with mallets.
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