A Grinder

Reproduction from a set of paintings called “Shokunin ezukushi” (職人絵尽/A Collection of Pictures of Artisans), which consists of 24 pieces, painted on screens, which are kept in the Kitain (喜多院; temple) at Kawagoe, in Saitama Prefecture. The paintings are attributed to Tosa Mitsuoki (土佐光起), who was appointed “Sakon-Shogen” early in the era of Genroku and made Chief of the Painting Bureau.

Vertically rectangular multicoloured print depicting a grinder sharpening a sword while a man sitting at his side cleans one to put into the scabbard being handed to him by a woman leaning out from behind the wall. The workshop surrounded by a roofed wall with a gate through which a man is leaving; outside a man is talking to a worker carrying planks of wood.