Lady of Meireki Era (1655-58)

A print depicting a lady of the Meireki era (1655–58) — a period of the early Tokugawa shogunate best remembered for the catastrophic Meireki fire of 1657, which destroyed much of Edo and killed tens of thousands of people. The fire forced a major reconstruction of the city and produced significant changes in urban design and social organization. Chikanobu's historical lady exists apart from this catastrophe, depicting the dress and bearing of a woman in the peaceful years before the disaster, the historical beauty series recovering beauty from the wreckage of history.