The Maiden — 少女,乙女

This print depicts "Otome" (少女, also read 乙女, The Maiden), the twenty-first chapter of the Genji Monogatari. The chapter describes Yugiri's coming-of-age ceremony, his enrollment in the court university under Genji's strict educational program, and his thwarted romance with Kumoi-no-Kari; the title itself derives from a poem exchanged at the Gosechi dancers' presentation, where the "maidens" of the celestial dance lend the chapter its name. Ebina's design accordingly draws on the visual repertoire of court ritual—formal robes, dance fans, ceremonial architecture—rendered in the abbreviated Heian-revival manner of Genji-e, with hikime-kagibana faces and patterned textiles carried by registered color blocks rather than line modeling. Compositional emphasis falls on costume silhouette and the geometry of interior space, with [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradation reserved for ground and sky passages. Within Ebina's sustained Genji series, "Otome" marks the generational pivot from Genji's own story to that of his son Yugiri, and the print's measured, ceremonial register reflects this narrative turn from romance toward dynastic continuity.