The quietness of the street tells us it is late night or early morning. We are in the heart of the city in the sector popularly known as Momendana ("cotton shops"). Scholars have surmised that the two geisha are returning home after an evening out, their slight disarray and sense of tipsiness enhanced by the concern in the attendant's arched eyebrow. Nearby, behind the lifted cloth curtain, two merchants sit among piles of cotton fabric, closing up their business.