Beauties & Kuchi-e

A young woman at a window, printed to open a novel. Japanese woodblock prints of beauties and kuchi-e frontispieces here date mostly from the Meiji period, from about 1880 to 1910. Kuchi-e were folded woodblock prints bound into the front of novels and literary magazines, usually showing a woman from the story. The form flourished from roughly the 1890s to the 1910s and drew on the full skill of the old ukiyo-e carvers and printers.

There are also illustrated print books: one dated 1793, one from around 1870 and a Meiji set in four volumes. Prints by Utagawa Kunisada, Yoshitora and their contemporaries carry the earlier Edo ideal of beauty, with elaborate hairstyles and layered kimono. Several kuchi-e come framed. Hang one at reading height beside a bookcase, where it returns to the company of books. Made to be glanced at before chapter one, and worth considerably longer.