
Advertisement for Goyô's "Beauty in Long Undergarment" print
- Medium:
- Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)
- Image courtesy of
- Saru Gallery
Description
This sheet served as a promotional notice for Goyo's print Beauty in Long Undergarment (Nagajuban no onna), one of the figure compositions from the latter portion of his short career. As a self-publisher, Goyo handled distribution privately rather than through an established [hanmoto](/glossary/hanmoto), and broadsides of this kind would have circulated to subscribers, dealers, and acquaintances to announce a forthcoming issue. The format typically reproduces the headline image at reduced scale alongside printed text giving the title, edition size, and price, executed in the same mokuhanga technique as the advertised print itself. Such ephemera document Goyo's tight personal control over production: he selected the carvers and printers, supplied the keyblock drawings, approved each impression, and limited runs to small numbers. The underlying subject—a woman in a long undergarment (nagajuban), the layer worn beneath the outer kimono—was a recurring intimate motif across his [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga), allowing study of the body's contour through translucent or partially open garments. Surviving advertisement sheets are themselves now collected as adjuncts to the finished prints they originally promoted.







