Published by Tsunashima Kamekichi, Carved by Yada Yūjirō
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Appearing Embarrassed: Behavior of a Girl of the Meiji Period, from the series Thirty-two Aspects of Behaviors (Fuzoku sanjūni sō), November 1888
Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper
This scene is supposed to show how a girl at the time this print was created behaved when embarrassed or shy. A contemporary Japanese viewer would have detected a subtle eroticism embedded in this design in the way the girl bites her sleeve and because a lock of her hair has escaped her coiffure. She must be from an affluent family, since she wears a fashionable kimono of checkered yellow silk cloth called kichijō, which was traditionally made on Hachiōji Island, about 180 miles south of Tokyo.
