Woman and Man at Entrance Gate of Enoshima

In this print, a man and a woman are shown standing before the stone gateway (torii) leading to the Shinto shrine on the promontory of Enoshima. Judging from the pack on the man's back and the woman's fashionable attire, including her ageb?shi headdress to protect her elaborate coiffure, we can presume that they are travelers from the nearby city of Edo. The geometric pattern of the woman's kimono is called yagasuri, a kind of ikat weaving that produces the distinctive arrow-feather (ya) design. This pattern was preferred by women of the warrior class and was adopted for the uniforms worn by the maidservants at Shogun's Court. By the 19th century, in line with a fashion taste for simplicity, this particular ikat pattern became popular among the city women of the merchant class. Meiji-period reproduction.