A farm in the shadow of Mt. Fuji, c. 1920. The rice in paddies is being readied for harvest; corn cobs hang to dry.

“You can see women at work on the farms almost as much as men. You will see them in the spring up to their knees in slush, planting out the young shoots of rice. If you hire a horse in the summer to carry your luggage when you are out on a tramp, it is ten to one that the horse comes in charge of a woman.”

– Everyday Japan, Arthur Lloyd, 1909