京都祇園 荒木梅菊

About this photo

She is writing with a brush on a long sheet of paper spread across her lap. The end of the paper is still rolled up, and she seems to be writing a letter on makigami, rolled letter paper. Her kimono has a thin checked pattern, and her hair is done in a traditional style with a large topknot (mage). The name under the photo reads "Kyoto Gion, Araki Umegiku," and it is one photo from the album Kyoto Osaka Imayo Bijin Fuzoku (Beauties of Today in Kyoto and Osaka, 1903).

Makigami is made by joining tall sheets of paper called hankirigami side by side into a long strip and rolling it up. You write in vertical lines with a brush, moving along the strip, and cut it off where you finish. In the past, a letter was supposed to use two sheets, the main sheet and a raishi, and even if you finished writing on one sheet, it was polite to add the second sheet blank. In the Edo period, long letters on makigami made of many joined sheets appeared.

Glossary