Osen, published by Takamizawa, 1943

Komura Settai's Osen is a [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga) depicting the celebrated beauty Osen of the Kagiya teahouse near the Kasamori Inari shrine in Yanaka, whose image was popularized by Suzuki Harunobu in the 1760s and became a recurring subject in Japanese print culture as an emblem of understated Edo feminine grace. Settai's 1943 rendering, published by Takamizawa—a publisher known for high-quality bijin-ga and illustrated editions—revisits this historical figure through a Taisho-inflected decorative sensibility. Settai's style combined classical subject matter with refined compositional simplicity, and his Osen would emphasize the modest bearing and simple cotton kimono associated with her historical image, avoiding the elaborate costuming of higher-status bijin subjects. The Takamizawa imprint indicates careful production: quality [washi](/glossary/washi), multiple precisely registered color blocks, and controlled [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) printing. That such a print was produced in 1943, late in the Pacific War, reflects the wartime market for historically rooted Japanese cultural imagery alongside the continued demand for high-end decorative prints.