Though the bun is partially obscured by the ageboshi headscarf, several other features suggest this beautiful lady’s hair is tied in the informal yuiwata style. She stands with parasol in hand, as if setting off to enjoy viewing autumn leaves. The yuiwata bun is a variation of the shimada-mage hairstyle and is fashioned by attaching a kanoko-dome hair ornament to a tsubushi shimada coiffure. This hairstyle was sported by young women of marriageable age and it often features in paintings by Uemura Shoen, this being one such example. This beauty’s pure white skin seems to testify to the purity of her heart, though the lustrous lips and the calm eyes radiate an imposing sense of refinement.

Ageboshi headscarves are known as ageboshi (swallowtail butterfly) owing to their resemblance to a butterfly. From the Meiji era onwards, they evolved into a type of bridal hood known as a tsunokakushi, but they were originally worn during the Edo period (1603–1868) by ladies from samurai families or well-to-do townswomen when venturing outdoors. They were attached to the front of the head and used instead of kazuki shawls to keep dust from the hair. Some Kyoto townsfolk still probably wore headscarves this way when Shoen was a child. This beauty’s kimono features a jugomaizasa (15-bamboo-leaf) crest. Shoen was apparently fond of this design and it appears in several of her representative works, including Preparing to Dance (National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto), Sound of a Hand Drum (Shohaku Arts Museum), Refurbishment (Miyagi Museum of Art), and Spring and Autumn (Meito Art Museum).

Feminine beauty tends to manifest itself initially in a women’s face or figure, but this lady’s bearing and casual behavior imbues her with a certain gracefulness that serves to accentuate this external beauty. In this sense, though Shoen’s works often feature similar subjects or compositions, she still manages to create variations in mood through subtle differences in a glance or a hand movement, thus imbuing all her paintings with an inexhaustible profundity.

Uemura Shoen and Kaburaki Kiyokata (1878–1972) were regarded as the two leading masters of bijin-ga (beauty paintings). Seki Chiyo, a pioneering female researcher in the field of modern Japanese art, recounted an illustrating episode about the two artists: “‘When I (Kiyokata) met Shoen earlier, Shoen spoke about her work and said it felt like she had just been playing with dolls her whole life. Maybe it is just playing, I said in a voice filled with admiration, but what magnificent play!’ I listened raptly to Kiyotaka’s story. For me, this elegantly simple conversation between two greats was one filled with significance. ” (Seki Chiyo, “Uemura Shoen and Her Works,” Uemura Shoen).

In this way, Shoen likened her artistic work to the act of playing with dolls and dressing them in different clothes. However, a deeper meaning probably lay behind Shoen’s lifelong devotion to beauty paintings. The style and mores on display in this picture would still have existed in the Kyoto of Shoen’s youth, but they gradually faded away from the Meiji period through to the Taisho and Showa periods. At the root of Shoen’s work, we can sense a desire to preserve and pass down these disappearing aspects of Edo/Meiji culture, not just its clothes but also the seasonal events and customs that marked daily life. While capturing the fashions of women, her paintings also portray the seasonal beauty that springs forth from the nature of Japan, especially Kyoto, and the appearance of the women who lived their lives amid this beauty.

Uemura Shoen (nihonga painter; 1875–1949)
Nihonga painter from Kyoto. Shoen graduated from the Kyoto Prefectural School of Painting. She studied under Suzuki Shonen, Kono Bairei, and Takeuchi Seiho. Active in the Bunten exhibition, Shoen produced many works in the contemporary bijinga (portraits of beautiful woman) genre. She was the first woman to receive the Order of Culture. The painters Uemura Shoko and Uemura Atsushi are her son and grandson, respectively.