Asakusa Rice Fields and Torinomachi Festival (Asakusa tanbo Torinomachi mode), from the series "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)"

This peaceful scene of a cat perched on a windowsill takes place on the second story of a brothel. Hairpins, a wad of tissue paper, and a towel hint at the room’s owner. The cat itself may be a stand-in for the woman, as sex workers were often associated with the grace and aloofness of felines. In the distance, small figures move in a procession to a nearby temple. On festival days, the pleasure quarters were open to all, and the courtesans took extra customers.