The Jewel River at Chōfu (Chōfu no Tamagawa)

Tatsukuri (or Tetsukuri), in the Musashi area west of modern Tokyo known as Chōfu, is a famous place for bleaching cloth. The woman here is rinsing cloth in the shoals of the river but looks almost as if dancing with the waving cloth. Use of the technique of embossing subtly reveals the cloth's thickness.

The poem by Fujiwara Teika in the square reads:

Tamagawa at Chōfu by Teika

The cloth that is hung over the

fence for bleaching

catches the morning dew at the

village of Tamagawa.

(trans. by Miyeko Murase)

Credit: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1946