Woman coming out of the bath

Within the slim vertical format of a hashira-e, a beauty reinserts hairpins after her bath. Her naked figure is hastily covered with a chrysanthemum-patterned bathrobe (yokui or yukata), echoing the autumnal theme of the haiku verse inscribed above her head:
Omokage ni
momiji terisō
furo agari
A vision,
glowing with the blush of autumn foliage,
fresh from her bath
The voyeuristic exposure of the upper body and leg, and the precariously covered lower abdomen place this print into the category of abuna-e, or “dangerous pictures.” After the Kyōhō Reforms of 1722 banned the production of pornographic prints (shunga), printmakers adopted alternative means of pleasing their clientele. Instead of explicit representations of sexual acts they depicted partially exposed bodies and sensual facial expressions. The blue color on the robe in this print appears to have been hand applied at a later time.