Three Beauties: Kayo of Kyoto, Hitotsuru of Osaka, and Kokichi of Tokyo

Kobayashi Kiyochika

1877

Woodblock print (ōban tate-e); ink and color with metallic pigments

Seattle Art Museum

Among Meiji artists, Kobayashi Kiyochika stands out for the diversity and quality of his works, which closely reflect the wide-ranging changes then taking place in Japan. In essence, his works exemplify the struggle of Meiji artists in their attempts to reconcile Japanese artistic traditions with the “modernity” of Western art. Kiyochika worked on a number of experimental prints that drew on Western models and techniques to depict Japanese themes. Among them were some revealing attempts at portraiture. “Beauties of the three capitals” (Kyoto, Tokyo, Osaka) is a familiar subject in traditional ukiyo-e, but in this work, a rare impres