Key value factors: Edition order (first Watanabe/Doi printing vs. posthumous reprints) is crucial. Snow scenes, night views, and bijin-ga typically command premiums. Publisher seals and artist signatures authenticate first editions.
"Uta Sugata" (うた姿) translates as "singing figure" or "the form of song" — suggesting a [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga) composition depicting a woman in the act of singing or in a posture associated with musical performance. Hirezaki Eiho trained in nihonga painting and was deeply familiar with the classical artistic traditions that gave musical performance such importance as a subject: the singing woman appears in Japanese art from at least the Heian period as an emblem of court refinement and feminine accomplishment. The title's evocative ambiguity — "the shape of song" rather than simply "a woman singing" — suggests a composition interested in the visible form that music gives to the body.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Uta Sugata — うた姿 was created by Hirezaki Eiho (鰭崎英朋).
Uta Sugata — うた姿 depicts music, figures, and bijin-ga.
