
Nap
by Koji Fukiya
- Medium:
- Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)
- Image courtesy of
- Saru Gallery
Description
Nap depicts a young woman in a moment of quiet repose, a recurring subject in Fukiya's jojo (lyrical girl) idiom where the closed-eyed or downcast gaze becomes a vehicle for introspective mood rather than narrative incident. The composition would typically isolate the figure against an unmodulated ground, allowing the elongated facial features, attenuated neck, and softly rounded cheek that became Fukiya hallmarks to carry the entire pictorial weight. Expect restrained linework — the keyblock impression kept fine and even — with [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations softening the skin tones and any pillow or fabric beneath the head. Hair is rendered as a flat black mass against the cream of [washi](/glossary/washi), a graphic device Fukiya inherited from earlier [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga) but adapted to a modern, sentimental register. Within the wider arc of his output, sleeping or resting girls form a recognizable subgroup alongside his portraits of girls reading, daydreaming, or gazing at flowers — all variations on the inward-turned reverie that defined Taisho and early Showa shojo culture and circulated widely through magazines such as Shojo no Tomo.

