Looking as if she is waking up: the appearance of a maiden in the Koka era

"Looking as if she is waking up" is another sheet from Fūzoku sanjūni sō (1888), depicting a young woman of the Kōka era (1844-48), the short reign-name preceding Kaei. The aspect assigned to her is mezamashi-sō, a half-awake or just-roused state that Yoshitoshi typically conveyed through softly disordered hair, a loosened collar, and a gesture of stretching or rubbing the eyes. Maidens of the late-Tokugawa townsman class are usually shown in undyed cotton sleeping kimono with a checked or striped pattern. The figure is set against the series' plain ground, allowing the mokuhanga keyblock line to carry the composition. The palette — typical of the series's late-Meiji production — relies on subtle gradation rather than the saturated [nishiki-e](/glossary/nishiki-e) of earlier [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e). The series was a commercial success and is read today as one of the late projects of the [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga) tradition before photography eclipsed printed portraiture.