Art Archive • Utamaro
Ukiyo-e
Three Beauties
Three Beauties of the Present Day
寛政三美人（富本豊雛・阿北・阿久）
Among the most famous beauty prints in ukiyo-e history: three stars of Kansei-era Edo in Utamaro’s large-head format. Tomioka Hina, Naniwaya Okita, and Takashima Ohisa (often identified in this arrangement) share one sheet as rivals in refinement and fashion.
Three faces — zoom to compare nose bridge, mouth tension, and gaze; Utamaro differentiates temperament within a similar beauty ideal.
White mica ground — at high resolution the dull, heavy sheen of shirokirazuri (white mica) reads as luxury background.
Triangular composition — the three heads form a stable triangle that gives the group portrait its calm authority.
Three gazes cross in silence — Edo’s fashion vanguard speaking across centuries.
Extended Japanese viewing notes: 寛政三美人（富本豊雛・阿北・阿久）.