One Hundred Famous Views of Edo No.7Wholesalers of cotton fabrics at Otemma Street

The depicted area was situated along a highway leading to northern Japan and had once provided travellers with temma, or horses used as luggage bearers.
The street name was derived from the function of the area. Nearby this street and close to Hatsune riding grounds at Bakuro-cho was an office of a chief magistrate. As well as dealing with legal matters, the magistrate administered the eight domains under the direct control of the shogun in the Kanto region. This place was always crowded with travellers as well as people from the domains who wished to file civil suits against others in the region.
To accommodate these people with lodgings and to supply them with daily necessities, many inns and stores lined the streets and alleys. The main street was filled with stores engaged in the wholesaling of cotton fabrics. Most of the businesses were operated by merchants from Ise Province (now Mie Prefecture) and thus were popularly called Ise stores. These stores sold goods which were supplied from Ise Province and its surrounding districts.
In this print, Hiroshige depicts a row of stores specializing in cotton fabrics. The facades of the stores are covered with dark blue curtains, inscribed with the respective trademarks of the stores. Through the curtains are seen cotton piece goods piled on the tatami floors. On the roof, bamboo hedges can be seen. These hedges enclose wooden rain tubs used in the case of fire. The names of the stores from right to left are Tabataya, Masuya and Shimaya, and the first and the third stores were run by merchants from Ise province.
In the foreground two geisha girls clad in exquisite kimonos are returning from their work at one of the wholesaler’s houses to their own homes. Wearing kimonos with a long train not convenient for walking, so they have to tuck the train up with their hands. Another custom observed by them in those days was that they went out for business barefooted. The geisha girl was usually followed by maidservants.