Morning after Snow at Koishikawa

Catalog note / 解説

Men and women in a pavilion leisurely enjoy the view of a distant, snow-covered Mount Fuji. Hokusai shows one woman at the right wearing a sophisticated, blue striped kimono over a contrasting bright red undergarment. Striped kimonos were widely enjoyed by men and women of modest means. Stripes are perhaps the easiest pattern to create on a simple country loom and were widely used to decorate commoner's garments. By alternating warp or weft thread colors, stripes of many varieties were easily achieved-vertical, horizontal, or, by combining both warp and weft, crisscrossing checkerboards. Further, by varying the hues and the width of stripes, weavers were able to create practical garments th…