Manners and Customs of Women

This is a collection of ukio-e prints from the Royal Ontario Museum. It’s called “Album of prints from Manners and Customs of Women” (Fujin fūzoku zukushi 婦人風俗尽).

• Artist: Ogata Gekkō 尾形月耕 (1859 – 1920)
• Medium: Colour woodblock print
• Date: c. 1896
• Period: Meiji period
• Dimensions: Ht. 35.5 x Wt. 24 cm
• Object number: 979.138.1
• Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. A. Ledingham in memory of Miss Martha Julia Cartmell, pioneer missionary to Japan

My favourite is the image to the right – “a courtesan departs” – but so many of these are fantastic. For more ukio-e prints, go to https://ukiyo-e.org/ and scroll down the page. For more cool objects from the ROM Digital Collection, click here.

Note from Dec. 8, 2024:
In many Japanese prints of courtesans / “pretty women”, the women’s faces are simply drawn while the hair is drawn elaborately. I believe this is telling about the part of the anatomy that men in the 1700s – 1800s cared about. (The prints above aren’t done in that “pinup” style, and that’s a big part of why I like them).

Here’s a small look at how complex women’s hair styles and accessories could get, from this 1885 book:

Note from June 6, 2025:
More hair stuff! “Tose Kamoji Hinagata” hair catalogue by the illustrator Abe Gyokuwanshi. From this eBay listing.

April 20, 2026:
The hair updates just keep on coming. An 1886 catalogue of hair styles in the Museum of Fine Art in Houston. Notice how Western these hairstyles are. We’re deeply into the “learn from the West” period in Meiji Japan.