Reflection in a Mirror- Marumage — Marumage (Natsu)

Dated 1953, this oban woodblock print shows a woman examining her reflection in a mirror while wearing the marumage hairstyle, a rounded coiffure traditionally associated with married women. The seasonal subtitle "Natsu" (Summer) places the scene in the hot months, when the weight and formality of the marumage would have been particularly felt. Shimura Tatsumi depicts the private moment of checking one's appearance, the mirror creating a doubled image that allows the viewer to see both the woman and her reflected self. The composition explores the gap between the self that looks and the self that is seen, a theme that runs throughout Shimura's work.