Pleasure with the Beauties of Japan (Wakoku bijin asobi)

This circa 1673 woodblock-printed book in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, Pleasure with the Beauties of Japan (Wakoku bijin asobi), is one of Moronobu's foundational contributions to the bijin-ga tradition, the depiction of beautiful women that would become a primary genre of ukiyo-e for two centuries. The title, which translates roughly as the entertainments or amusements of the beauties of Japan, signals the book's organizational principle, a parade of female figures arranged by type, setting, or activity. Printed entirely in sumizuri-e, the monochromatic black-ink technique, the book relies on Moronobu's draftsmanship to carry every element of characterization, from the bearing of a Yoshiwara oiran to the modesty of a household maid. His textile-trained eye is everywhere visible in the intricate patterning of the women's kimonos, which encodes information about their social position, season, and the latest Edo fashions, the same kind of detailed sartorial reportage that would later make Utamaro's bijin-ga commercially indispensable. Wakoku bijin asobi represents Moronobu at the height of his powers as a book illustrator and helps document the moment when bijin-ga as a coherent genre emerged from his hand.