Beauties in Ukiyo-e: From Harunobu to Utamaro and further to Kiyokata
Exhibition Overview
There were numerous star painters who were active in the ukiyo-e world in the latter half of the eighteenth century. Centering around the Tenmei and Kansei eras(1781-1801), this period has come to be known as the“golden age” in the history of ukiyo-e.“Bijinga,”which beautifully and vividly portrayed people, were at the center of this prosperity. From Suzuki Harunobu onwards, one after another distinctive painter such as Isoda Koryūsai, Katsukawa Shunshō, Torii Kiyonaga, Kitagawa Utamaro, and Chōbunsai Eishi appeared in pursuit of the ideal image of a beauty.
The human figures depicted were well-known town girls or courtesans, young men referred to as wakashu, and loving mother and child or lovers. Beauties were also represented in yakusha-e portraying idolized male actors specializing in female roles and shunga at times beautifully portraying couples making love.
In this exhibition, the development of“beauties in ukiyo-e”is traced through approximately 240 prints, illustrated books, and paintings. It should also be noted that, over the years, as the Tenmei and Kansei eras came to be esteemed as the“golden age,” modern artists such as Kaburaki Kiyokata and Uemura Shōen were inspired by bijinga of bygone times. What were the“bijinga”of the“golden age?”We shall consider the ubiquitous charm of bijinga through our own eyes in the present age.
Chapter 1. The Genealogy of “Beauties in Ukiyo-e”
This exhibition introduces talented painters who showed their individuality in the eighteenth century and “bijinga,” which continue to enchant the people to this day.
While the literal translation of “bijinga” is “pictures of beauties,” the figures portrayed range from town girls to courtesans, geisha, young men referred to as wakashu, mother and child, couples, etc. Although bijinga are portraits, there is no clear distinction of sex or standpoint. Besides depicting ideal figures, bijinga artists tried hard to portray the changing fashion or motifs representing the season or weather in their pictures. In some cases, a bijinga could depict invisible emotions and feelings by overlapping a story or a poem or treating the subject of the relationship among a family or lovers. Beauties in ukiyo-e visually represented various aspects of Edo with a charm that captivated the people.
In this chapter, the approximately forty year-long flow of bijinga from the Meiwa and An’ei periods to the Tenmei and Kansei periods, which are referred to as the golden age of ukiyo-e, is introduced through works by the major painters. Beginning with the vogue for Suzuki Harunobu-style beauties, which everyone yearned after, one after another characteristic painter such as Isoda Koryūsai, Katsukawa Shunshō, Torii Kiyonaga, Kitagawa Utamaro, and Chōbunsai Eishi appeared. Presented here is the process through which their varied artistic styles effloresced.
Chapter 2. Three Viewpoints Regarding Beauties in Ukiyo-e
The widely recognized image of beauties in ukiyo-e seems to be getting renewed in recent years. In this chapter, the characteristics of the golden age of bijinga are examined multilaterally from the following three viewpoints.
“Section 1. Who Is Being Portrayed?” focuses on the point that although all beauties in ukiyo-e appear to have the same external features at first sight, though slight, individuality is represented. Especially in Utamaro’s time, representation of “likeness” was attempted.
In “Section 2. Mundane or Elegant?” unlike the ukiyo-e as products pursuing popularity, elegant ukiyo-e produced for specific recipients are focused on. An alternative aspect of ukiyo-e not limited to those “loved by the commoners in Edo” is closed up on.
In an attempt to capture the potential of representation of beauties in a broader sense, “Section 3. Woman or Man?” examines peripheral works transcending conventional genres such as yakusha-e (pictures of actors) and shunga (erotic pictures). Regardless of the image of “women” called to mind by the term bijinga, the border of bijinga is explored through beautifully idealized figural representations of men or couples
Chapter 3. Our Golden Age of Ukiyo-e
The term “golden age” has been quoted repeatedly to describe the Tenmei and Kansei periods in this exhibition. This golden age derives from the appreciation of the late eighteenth century as a particularly prominent period in the history of ukiyo-e. But when and who was it that began saying so? Now that the achievements of Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Hiroshige, Kunisada, Kuniyoshi, and others in the nineteenth century are widely known, the way the period before that alone appears to mark the zenith may seem out of place.
The recognition of Kiyonaga and Utamaro’s days as the “golden age” is backed by the influence of the evaluation of opinions expressed in Japan and abroad from the late nineteenth century to the twentieth century, when studies on ukiyo-e were carried out on a full scale. Furthermore, the fact that bijinga artists of the Taisho and Showa eras who followed ukiyo-e such as Kaburaki Kiyokata, Hashiguchi Goyō, Uemura Shōen, and Kitano Tsunetomi studied beauties in ukiyo-e of bygone times would also appear to have proved an opportunity to enhance the significance of this period.
In this chapter, in order to consider to whom the Tenmei and Kansei periods were the “golden age,” the charm of the golden age which continues to enchant us are examined.
Exhibition Information
| Event Schedule | October 5 (Sat.) - November 24, 2019 (Sun.) First period: October 5 (Sat.) - October 27 (Sun.) Second period: October 29 (Tue.) - November 24 (Sun.) |
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| Closed Days | Mondays * Open on October 14 (Mon., National holiday) and November 4 (Mon., Substitute holiday) Closed on the following days, October 15 (Tue.) and November 5 (Tue.) |
| Venue | Temporary Exhibition Rooms 1 and 2 |
| Organizer | Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts |
| Subsidy | Japan Arts Fund |
| Admission | General admission: ¥900 (¥700) University/College/High-school students and senior citizens 65-years-old and older: ¥450 (¥350) * Junior-high school students and younger are free * Prices in parentheses are for visitors in a group of 20 or more. * People presenting their physical disability certificates, rehabilitation certificates, or mental disability certificates, and one accompanying individual are eligible for a 50% discount * Free admission on October 5 (first day of exhibition) and November 3 (Culture Day) * Repeater discount, kimono discount, Machida Bungakukan mutual discount, and other discount services are planned (details will be updated) |
| Repeater discount | all patrons : ¥100 OFF *Show the stub to this exhibition at the admissions ticket window. |
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| Taxi discount | all patrons : ¥100 OFF *Show your taxi receipt for the day at the admissions ticket window. *One taxi receipt entitles only one patron to a discount. |
| Passport discount | all patrons : ¥100 OFF *Show your foreign passport at the admissions ticket window. |
| Shared cycles | all patrons : ¥100 OFF *Show the shared cycles app screen at the admissions ticket window. *For more details about shared cycles, see here. |
| Kimono discount | general : ¥200 OFF University/College/High-school students and senior citizens 65-years-old and older : ¥100 OFF *This discount is for those who wear kimono while visiting the museum. |
| Machida City Museum of Literature, Kotoba Land ticket discount | general : ¥200 OFF University/College/High-school students and senior citizens 65-years-old and older : ¥100 OFF *Show your stub from the “Lifestyle of Masako Shirasu: Playful Life ” exhibition being held at the Machida City Museum of Literature, Kotoba Land (from October 19 to December 22) at the admissions ticket window. *For more details of exhibitions at the Machida City Museum of Literature, Kotoba Land, see here. |
*Discounts cannot be used together.
Related Events
Memorial Lecture 1
Title: Handsome? Beauty? “Bijinga”bloom in Ukiyo-e!
Speaker: Higuchi Kazutaka (Associate Professor of Jumonji University,
Exhibition partner)
Date/Time: October 20 (Sun.) 2:00 - 3:30 p.m.
Venue: 1F Lecture Hall
* First 100 people (No application necessary)
* Free admission. Exhibition admission ticket necessary (ticket stub acceptable)
Memorial Lecture 2
Title: Characteristics and Impact of Utamaro Bijinga
Speaker: Okubo Jun'ichi (Director of Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts)
Date/Time: November 9 (Sat.) 2:00 - 3:30 p.m.
Venue: 1F Lecture Hall
* First 100 people (No application necessary)
* Free admission. Exhibition admission ticket necessary (ticket stub acceptable)
Learn about Ukiyo-e techniques: Demonstration and explanation of woodblock printing
Speaker: The Adachi Foundation
Date/Time: October 6 (Sun.) (1) 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (2) 2:00-3:30 p.m.
Venue: 1F Lecture Hall
* First 50 people per session (No application necessary)
* Free admission. Exhibition admission ticket necessary (ticket stub acceptable)
Family Viewing Event
Speaker: Tomita Megumi
(Representative Director of the NPO Corporation Art Friendship Association for Babies and Children)
Date/Time: October 12 (Sat.)
(1)10:15 - 11:30 a.m. (children aged 0-3 years)
(2)1:15 - 2:30 p.m. (children aged 4 years to elementary school age)
Venue: 1F Lecture Hall
* Prior application required (First 15 pairs per session)
* Parent accompaniment required for both sessions
* Free admission. Parent/Guardian needs an admission ticket valid for the day.
[How to apply]
Please call the Event Dial-up number or apply through the Machida City Event Application System (EVESYS) during the application period.
Application period: September 13 (Fri.) 12:00 October 7 (Mon.) 19:00
* Up to October 7 (Mon.) 11:59 p.m. on EVESYS
▶Machida Event Dial-up number 042-724-5656
* 7 days a week 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
▶Machida City Event Application System “EVESYS”
(1)10:15 - 11:30 a.m. (children aged 0-3 years) → [Here]
(2)1:15 - 2:30 p.m. (children aged 4 years to elementary school age) → [Here]
* Search by the event name or event code:
190913J-A or 190913K-A
→[EVESYS top page]
Reproduced Ukiyo-e Woodblocks and Printing Workshop
Instructor: Curator of this museum
Date/Time: November 2 (Sat.), 3 (Sun.)
1)1:30 p.m. 2) 2:30 p.m. 3) 3:30 p.m.
Each session is 30 minutes
Venue: 1F Atelier (Nov. 2), 1F Lecture Hall (Nov. 3)
Participants: 5th-graders and up
* Prior application required (10 people per session)
* Fee: ¥200
* For details on this event and how to apply, see [Here]
Special Gallery Talk
Title: The Charm of Painted Bijinga: Through Restoration Research
Speaker: Mukai Daisuke
(Research Assistant at the laboratory for the preservation and restoration of Japanese art, Graduate School of the Tokyo University of the Arts)
Date/Time: November 10 (Sun.) 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
* Please have your admission ticket valid for the day ready and gather at the entrance of the Temporary Exhibition Room on the 2nd floor.
Gallery Talk by the Curator
Date/Time: October 13 (Sun.) and November 4 (Mon., Substitute holiday)
2:00 - 2:45 p.m.
* Please have your admission ticket valid for the day ready and gather at the entrance of the Temporary Exhibition Room on the 2nd floor.
Promenade Concert: Music in Harmony with Ukiyo-e - An Ensemble of Japanese and Western Musical Instruments
Performers: Hattori Emiko(koto and sangen), Kondo Hikari(flute and piano)
Date/Time: November 16 (Sun.) 1) 1:00- 2) 3:00- Each session is 30 minutes
* Everyone is welcome.
* No chairs are available.
Press Release and Other Announcements
▶ [Press release]
▶ [Flier] ▶ [Flier] front ▶ [Flier] back
Concurrent Event
The Beauties/Viewers in/out Printed Images
September 26 (Wed.) to December 22 (Sun.) Permanent Collection Room
* Free admission
