Takaragi

A bijin print from the seventh lunar month of 1864 depicting a woman named Takaragi, part of the seasonal series of female portraits that Kyosai produced alongside companion images of Oroku, Osome, Somekawa, Wakato, and others. The name Takaragi suggests associations with treasure or precious materials, and the woman depicted would likely be dressed in the finest summer fabrics of the period. Kyosai's early bijin prints reveal his deep engagement with the conventions of the genre he would later subvert so decisively.