These two prints show the occupations of the 畳師 (tatami-shi, tatami mat maker) on the left and the 糸師 (ito-shi, thread maker) on the right.

Nowadays, even many westerners may recognize the word 'Tatami' but the origin was in the 700s when only straw was used. In mid Edo era (1700s) the current form of tatami was established. At the beginning, only rich people were allowed to use this mat, but by the end of the Edo era, it spread among wider class of people. The core of a Tatami mat is made of compressed straw and this is covered with woven igusa (rush grass). When the surface igusa layer wears out, it can be replaced by reusing the same core. A tatami-shi's work includes not only making or replacing the surface layers but also placing the mats in the rooms. In the image, the tatami-shi is sewing the tatami-omote (surface mat) onto the core. Behind the craftsman, we can see some finished mats stacked up, with the heri (decorative edge pieces) clearly visible.

During the Edo era, farmers commonly engaged in raising silkworms, then extract silk from the cocoons, and spinning it into threads. As time goes by, these processes were specialized by other craftsmen, leaving farmers only to raise silkworms. We are unsure about the task of ito-shi but can only guess that they were responsible for handling threads according to their intended purpose. In the image, the woman seated in the foreground is braiding, a bundle of short-cut threads, while the woman in the background is reeling the wide skein of thread into the smaller skein.