Lady in Kaei Era (1848-54)

A print depicting a lady in the Kaei era (1848–54) — the final years before Japan's forced opening to Western trade, when the country existed in an anxious twilight between the old order and the upheaval that everyone sensed was approaching. Chikanobu's historical beauty series documents the dress and bearing of women across successive historical eras, and the Kaei period's costume — the late Tokugawa refinement of feminine dress at its peak of technical achievement — was particularly carefully recorded. The series implicitly argues for the continuity and sophistication of Japanese feminine culture across centuries of change.