Bijin

Bijin, recorded through the [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e).org archive, is one of the most direct examples in Tomioka Eisen's output of the central genre on which his reputation rested. The single-figure [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga) was a category as old as ukiyo-e itself, refined by Utamaro in the late eighteenth century and extended by Kunisada and his successors. Eisen worked within this long tradition while bringing to it the quieter, more inward sensibility of Meiji portraiture. The figure stands or sits as a study in costume, hairstyle, and posture, but the overall effect is less about display than about mood. Works like this one circulated widely as standalone prints and as [kuchi-e](/glossary/kuchi-e) frontispieces, and they helped define the visual culture of late Meiji literature for the readers of magazines such as Bungei Kurabu.