清方は、昭和29年（1954）に鎌倉の材木座から雪ノ下に転居する際、一時、逗子に方違(かたたが)えしていました。逗子の新宿の家を借りる際、疎開先の御殿場で知り合った娘に仲介してもらい、そのお礼として本作を描きました。
清方は、洋装に馴染んだ昭和の女性が、正月を迎えると日本髪に結い和装で出かける姿に興趣を感じていました。古きよき日本の正月の風情をあらわした作品です。

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Matsunouchi (New Year’s Days) (1956)
ink and pale color on paper; hanging scroll
37.7 x 27.6 cm

In 1954, when Kiyokata moved from Zaimokuza to Yukinoshita, both in Kamakura, he spent a short time in Zushi to avoid unlucky influences (katatagae). In Zushi, he found a house in the Shinjuku area with the help of the daughter of an acquaintance he had met while evacuated to Gotemba during the war. He painted this work in return for her help.
It interested Kiyokata that although women in the Showa period were accustomed to Western clothing, they would arrange their hair in the traditional Japanese styles and dress in kimono when they went out to greet the New Year. This painting has the atmosphere of a traditional Japanese New Year.