Bijin-ga (Portraits of Japanese Beauties)

Bijin-ga is a sub-genre of portraiture depicting exceptionally beautiful women as the subject. Paintings of this genre are known for their focus on illustrating both the physical and inner beauty of women.

At the start of the Edo era, in order to meet the demands of the common people, town artists began frequently drawing subjects from two areas of the town ― the theater and entertainment districts. It was with this backdrop that the Japanese art of Bijin-ga, the painting of beautiful women, was born. From the Edo era until the mid-Meiji era, this art was referred to as Bijin-e and Onna-e. The term Bijin-ga first gained widespread traction in 1915, thanks to the popularity of the Bijinga-shitsu (Room of Bijin-ga) displayed at the Ministry of Education's 9th annual art exhibition (Bunten). 

The subjects of such paintings were often prostitutes. During the Kanbun period (1661 to 1673), solo portraits of prostitutes, called Kanbun Bijin-zu, began appearing among the hanging scrolls that decorated folding screens. This type of Bijin-ga, featuring a standing single subject, was established by Moronobu Hishikawa, famous for his Mikaeri Bijin-zu (Beauty Looking Back). 

 Harunobu Suzuki, who was active during the Meiwa period, would often draw popular Kanban-musume (‘poster girls’ whose beauty would draw customers to their respective stores) in addition to prostitutes. Amongst his works, his drawing of the Kanban-Musume Osen, of the tea house Kagiya near the Kasamori Inari Shrine in Yanaka, was exceptionally popular. Entering the Kansei period (1789 to 1801), Bijin-ga diversified between many different sub-styles, including those of Kiyonaga Torii, known for his perfectly proportioned beauties and drawings of women playing among beautiful scenery, and Utamaro Kitagawa’s popular style of sensual bust-up paintings that captured the subjects’ hearts, highlighting the charms of commoners or family girls. 

One artist, who was originally expelled from the Shunsho Katsukawa School (painting group), identified himself as Sori Tawaraya between the years of 1795 to 1799, and gained public interest for his paintings of slender beauties. The ‘Second Sori Tawaraya’, later became known nationwide by the name Hokusai Katsushika. His Sori-gata Bijin (Sori-style beauty) paintings from this period became the standard for Bijin-ga.