Firefly

A woman holds a firefly or pursues one through the summer darkness, the tiny luminescent insect serving as the emotional center of this June 1934 print. The firefly (hotaru) was a richly coded symbol in Japanese literature and art—associated with the souls of the dead, the brevity of summer, and the ardor of nighttime lovers. Shinsui renders the scene with the careful attention to fabric texture and facial expression that defines his bijin-ga work, while the insect gives the composition a note of delicate seasonal poetry.