Art Archive • Utamaro
Ukiyo-e
Utamaro Gallery (Guide)
From private gestures in ōkubi-e to poster girls and group portraits.
Kitagawa Utamaro’s bijin-ga from the Kansei era — public-domain works from The Met and open-access archives.
Life and style
Kitagawa Utamaro was among the most celebrated painters of bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women) from the Tenmei era through the Bunka era (he died in 1806). He excelled at ōkubi-e (“large-head” portraits), holding the dignity of an Edo woman and the intimacy of a private moment within a single sheet.
Through collaboration with publisher Tsutaya Jūzaburō (also known as Jūzaburō Tsutaya), his finely printed works circulated widely. His name reached the West alongside reports of foreign ships at Japan’s shores, and the fluidity of his line was admired by painters from Impressionism onward.
Ten Physiognomies
婦女人相
Ōkubi-e and “types” of Edo women — private gestures rising from mica-ground sheets: a girl blowing a glass toy, a woman reading a letter.
Three Beauties
寛政三美人
Edo’s celebrated poster girls in one frame — Tomioka Hina, Takashima Ohisa, and Naniwaya Okita. Fashion and refinement in competition.
Utamakura
歌枕
Poetic place-names and hours of the day. Verse and story enter the picture — from private allure toward narrative emblems.
High-resolution digital downloads (best-set JPEG/ZIP on SUZURI): Ukiyo-e digital downloads · 日本語. Checkout on SUZURI is in Japanese; prices are shown in yen.
Selected Utamaro designs are available as print goods (12 works): Ukiyo-e goods · SUZURI store .