Sakikôgai

Sakikogai takes its title from the saki-kogai, a small ornamental hairpin used to fix the back of a traditional Japanese coiffure, and the print concentrates on a figure whose hairstyle showcases this accessory. Compositions of this type typically isolate the sitter against a plain or lightly toned ground so the hair arrangement and ornaments register clearly, with the carver assigned the precise lines that distinguish individual lacquered hair-strands. The kogai itself, often rendered in deeper key-block black or with a metallic mica overlay, sits horizontally through the chignon and is paired with kanzashi at the temples. Within Kato Shinmei's bijin-ga work, prints like this one belong to a sub-genre that approaches the figure as a study of personal adornment, an inheritance from the ukiyo-e portraitists Utamaro and Eishi but reworked under shin-hanga's tighter registration and graduated baren pressure. The print would have been printed on washi using the publisher-coordinated workflow that defined the movement.