Kuchi-E Woodblock Print by Keishu Takeuchi: Koharu Biyori or a Balmy Autumn Day

Maple leaves drift past, and she draws her violet coat closer with a hand at her lips.

Koharu biyori, or A balmy autumn day, is a kuchi-e woodblock print by Keishu Takeuchi (1861 – 1942), from Japan and dated 1910. It is ink on paper. Kuchi-e were frontispiece prints bound into Japanese novels and literary magazines, often showing beautiful women in quiet moments. A young woman with a high black chignon and yellow ribbon wraps a long violet coat over a gray kimono. Red maple leaves fall across the cream ground, and a round seal sits at lower right. It is 8.4 inches wide and 11.9 high.

A balmy day, by the look of it, with a chill she is not admitting to.