Kitagawa Utamaro — The Peak of Bijin-ga, Ōkubi-e and the 'Inner Life of Women'

Utamaro — the Peak of Bijin-ga

Kitagawa Utamaro (c. 1753-1806) is the painter representing the historical peak of ukiyo-e bijin-ga. Through the lyricism of Harunobu and the eight-headed beauty of Kiyonaga, Utamaro arrived at an expression of bijin-ga as “a close-up of face and upper body that draws the inner life.”

His representative technique is the ōkubi-e — a composition that fills the picture surface with face and upper body. This is close to Western portrait painting, but Utamaro tried to capture not a realistic individual portrait, but an individual psychology within a ‘type’ of woman.

Life — Mystery of Origins

Early Life (unknown)

• Born around 1753, birthplace and origins both unclear. Various theories: Edo, Kawagoe, Osaka
• Real name also unknown. “Utamaro” is his pen name
• Said to have trained under Toriyama Sekien in the Kanō school and yōkai painting
• 1770s, active in Edo as an illustrator of illustrated books under the name Kitagawa Toyoaki

Encounter with Tsutaya Jūzaburō (1780s)

What decided Utamaro’s fate was the encounter with the greatest publisher in Edo, Tsutaya Jūzaburō (1750-1797).

• Mid-1780s, boarded at Tsutaya’s shop
• With Tsutaya’s total support, moved fully into kyōka picture-books and bijin-ga
• 1788, in the Tsutaya edition of the kyōka picture-book Ehon Mushi Erami, precisely depicted insects, showing his skill as a painter

Tsutaya had a strategy of raising Utamaro as a flagship artist. This is close to the modern relationship of producer and artist.

Peak of Bijin-ga (1791-1804)

• Around 1791, began his large-face bijin-ga series in earnest
• 1793-1795, released representative series in succession: Fujo Ninsō Jippon, Kasen Koi no Bu, etc.
• Late 1790s, established his position in Edo as “bijin-ga = Utamaro”

Utamaro’s pictures functioned as convenient advertising for courtesans and teahouse girls. The names of courtesans of Yoshiwara and signboard girls of teahouses in Asakusa and Ryōgoku became known nationwide through Utamaro’s pictures.

Death of Tsutaya (1797)

Tsutaya Jūzaburō died in 1797 at 48. Utamaro afterward worked with other publishers, but the momentum of the Tsutaya era was lost.

Punishment by the Shogunate (1804)

In 1804 (Bunka 1), Utamaro published Taikō Gosai Rakutō Yūkan no Zu, on Toyotomi Hideyoshi and his concubines. This was deemed criticism of the shogunate:

• Handcuffs (jōsan) for 50 days
• The publisher, engraver, and printer were similarly punished

Utamaro was greatly weakened in mind and body. From then on, the number of works falls sharply.

Death (1806)

• Died in September 1806 (Bunka 3), at around 53
• Cause of death unknown. Regarded as decline of mind and body after the handcuff punishment
• Grave site at Senkō-ji in Edo

The Revolution of “Ōkubi-e”

Utamaro’s greatest technical and aesthetic innovation is the ōkubi-e (bust portrait).

What Is Ōkubi-e?

• A composition of close-up of face and upper body
• Uses the ōban vertically, with the face alone occupying 1/3 to 1/2 of the picture
• The background is blank or a simplified pattern / mica print
• Emphasizes the delicate expressions of hand, neck, and neckline

This is similar to the Western bust-shot portrait, but Utamaro drew not an individual portrait but individuality within a type. Within social types of “town girl,” “oiran,” “teahouse girl,” he captures the psychology of a single moment.

Why It Was Revolutionary

Until then, bijin-ga was:

• Kiyonaga → ideal beauty of the full figure — expressing beauty through proportion
• Harunobu → girlish lyricism — women within a scene

By narrowing the focus to face and hands, Utamaro:

• Made visible subtle differences of expression — smile, sorrow, thought, weariness
• Let gestures of hands speak of feeling — makeup, pipe, letter, tea
• Let disturbance of neckline and collar hint at emotional states

This is a subject that had not existed in ukiyo-e before: drawing women’s inner life in pictures. From today’s viewpoint, one could call it the visualization of psychological description.

Representative Series

Fujo Ninsō Jippon (Ten Studies in Female Physiognomy, 1792-93)

A series that classifies the women of Edo into 10 types. An attempt to classify women by “facial features,” “expression,” and “gesture.” Representative work:

• Woman Blowing a Popping Toy — a young woman blowing a popping glass toy in a single moment. The cuteness of the puffed cheeks

Kasen Koi no Bu (Poem Compilation, Section of Love, c. 1794)

A series that depicts the psychology of love in stages. It expresses in bijin-ga the 5-6 stages of the feelings of love — “first love,” “deep hidden love,” “rare meeting love,” etc. Representative work:

• Fukaku Shinobu Koi (Deep Hidden Love) — a woman pressing a letter to her breast. An inner life that hides love, seeping into her face

Tōji San Bijin (Three Beauties of the Present Day, 1793)

Three real women famous in Edo at the time:

• Tomimoto Toyohina — a geisha
• Naniwaya Okita — signboard girl at an Asakusa teahouse
• Takashima Ohisa — signboard girl at a Ryōgoku teahouse

Placed in a triangular composition. An example of fixing real women as idols in pictures.

Seirō Jūniji (Twelve Hours of the Yoshiwara, 1794)

A series depicting the 24 hours of the Yoshiwara pleasure quarter in 12 scenes. A day in the life of a courtesan (waking, makeup, dealing with clients, sleeping), simply put in pictures. Captures the everyday of the courtesan profession without excessive beautification.

Mother-and-Child Series

Utamaro also left many pictures of mother and child. Moments in which a courtesan or town woman holds a child. This too is an attempt to draw another side of women.

Tsutaya Jūzaburō — the Master Producer

To speak of Utamaro’s work, the existence of the publisher Tsutaya Jūzaburō is essential.

Tsutaya’s Strategy

• Confining the top painters — Utamaro, Sharaku, Hokusai, etc.
• Diversification of subjects — bijin-ga, actor prints, kyōka picture-books
• Investment in luxurious special techniques — using mica printing, blind printing without stinting
• Producing hype — turning real teahouse girls into pictures, making them the talk of Edo

In 1787, half of Tsutaya’s fortune was confiscated in the shogunate’s Kansei Reforms, but he used that as an opportunity to bet on new stars Utamaro and Sharaku. This risk-taking made the golden age of the nishiki-e in the 1790s.

The metaphor Tsutaya = a Steve-Jobs-like producer of his time is often used.

Utamaro’s Limits and Late Years

After Tsutaya’s death (1797), Utamaro:

• Leaned toward mass production of the same subjects — his bijin-ga style becomes formulaic
• His successors and imitators multiplied — “Utamaro-style” flooded the market
• The handcuff punishment of 1804 rapidly weakened his creative power

Utamaro’s peak was concentrated in the 7-8 years of 1791-1798, during his collaboration with Tsutaya. This ranks with Harunobu’s 5 years and Sharaku’s 10 months as one of the short but dense peaks of ukiyo-e history.

Japonisme — Utamaro’s Overseas Evaluation

In the late 19th century, Utamaro’s bijin-ga became the center of Japonisme in Europe:

• Edmond de Goncourt (1888), published a biography of Utamaro — Outamaro : le peintre des maisons vertes
• Mary Cassatt (American female painter) was influenced by Utamaro’s mother-and-child pictures
• Klimt and Toulouse-Lautrec also absorbed Utamaro’s expression of face and hand

Utamaro was recognized in the West as “the painter representing Japan” to an extent even beyond his domestic Japanese reputation as a “master of bijin-ga.” This forms part of the modern Japanese image of “Utamaro = the peak of ukiyo-e.”

From This Article to the Next

Alongside Utamaro’s bijin-ga, in the 10 months of 1794-95 there appeared a mysterious painter. Tōshūsai Sharaku. The greatest topic-work project Tsutaya Jūzaburō set up. In an unprecedented style of actor ōkubi-e, he drew more than 140 works, and then suddenly disappeared. The next article traces Sharaku’s 10 months and the 200 years of debate over his identity.