The Japanese term for ukiyo-e prints depicting beautiful women is bijin-ga.
Bijin-ga literally means “pictures of beautiful people,” although in ukiyo-e it usually refers to images of attractive women. Artists portrayed courtesans, geisha, entertainers, merchants’ daughters, and fashionable women in carefully styled clothing. These prints helped circulate information about trends in hairstyles, kimono, accessories, and beauty ideals in Edo-period Japan.
Bijin-ga was not limited to anonymous figures. Artists such as Kitagawa Utamaro became famous for close-up portraits of women, while other designers showed them in groups, at leisure, or taking part in seasonal activities. The genre is sometimes confused with yakusha-e, which depicts kabuki actors, and fūkeiga, which focuses on landscapes. Bijin-ga therefore identifies a subject category rather than one particular printing method or artist.