Looking eager to meet someone: the appearance of a courtesan of the Kaei period
- Medium:
- Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)
- Image courtesy of
- Saru Gallery
This print belongs to "Fuzoku sanjuniso" (Thirty-Two Aspects of Customs and Manners), Yoshitoshi's [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga) series of 1888 in which each design pairs a half-length female figure with a specific emotional aspect — sleepy, grumbling, hot, refreshed, eager, and so on — and locates her within a particular historical period. "Looking eager to meet someone" depicts a courtesan of the Kaei era (1848–1854), the years immediately preceding Perry's arrival, identifiable through her hairstyle, comb arrangement, and patterns of kimono fabric. The series is distinctive for its restrained palette, careful textile reproduction, and use of shomenzuri (burnishing) and [karazuri](/glossary/karazuri) (blind embossing) to render fabric textures, qualities that depended on close collaboration with Yoshitoshi's carvers and printers. Compositionally, the figure is set against a plain ground with minimal shading, focusing attention on facial expression and posture as the carriers of the named aspect. "Fuzoku sanjuniso" represents Yoshitoshi's late return to bijin-ga after years dominated by warrior, historical, and supernatural subjects, and is typically discussed alongside "Tsuki hyakushi" (One Hundred Aspects of the Moon) among his significant Meiji-period series.
1888
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Color woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Looking eager to meet someone: the appearance of a courtesan of the Kaei period was created by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年).
Looking eager to meet someone: the appearance of a courtesan of the Kaei period depicts bijin-ga.
