Uma no Naishi, from the series "Modern Versions of Famous Japanese Beauties (Wakoku bijin Yatsushishu)

Uma no Naishi, from the series Modern Versions of Famous Japanese Beauties (Wakoku bijin Yatsushishu), is a 1776 Torii Kiyonaga print that exemplifies the yatsushi (modern updating) mode central to Edo bijin-ga. Uma no Naishi was a celebrated waka poet of the late Heian court whose figure became part of the canon of historical Japanese beauties; Kiyonaga reimagines her not in archaic court dress but as a contemporary Edo woman, presenting the classical subject through current fashions and settings. The strategy of yatsushi let ukiyo-e designers invest the canon of Japanese feminine ideals with everyday relevance, and the Wakoku bijin Yatsushishu series gathered a sequence of such reimaginings under a single editorial program. At 1776, Kiyonaga's figural style still retains the slighter proportions of his first decade — his great vertical-format mature manner lay a few years ahead — but the precise observation of the kimono and the controlled placement of accessories show the disciplined Torii school draftsmanship he had absorbed. The series also documents how the Torii school, under his developing leadership, was extending its activity from its kabuki-signboard core into ambitious multi-print bijin-ga sets. The Art Institute of Chicago records this design among its early Kiyonaga holdings.