Why are these women gathered around the telescope wearing kimono with different seasonal patterns – orchards, peonies, chrysanthemums, and maple trees? Perhaps they are intended to be symbols of the seasons and the picture is an attempt to depict the difficult to convey notion of the movement of heavenly bodies. Incidentally, the instrument the women are using is the first genuine astronomical telescope, with an eight-inch diameter, to be made in Japan. It was produced by the Japan Optical Industries Company – known today as the Nikon Corporation. It was installed in the Tokyo Science Museum (now the National Museum of Nature and Science) in 1931 and remained in use until 2005.