| English: Woman Wiping Sweat | |
| Artist | Kitagawa Utamaro |
|---|---|
| Year | 1798 |
Bijinga (美人畫), (lit., "beautiful person picture") is a generic term for pictures of beautiful women in Japanese art, especially in woodblock printing of the ukiyo-e genre, which predate photography. The term can also be used for modern media, provided the image conforms to a somewhat classic representation of a woman, usually depicted wearing kimono.
Nearly all ukiyo-e artists produced bijinga, it being one of the central themes of the genre. However, a few, including Utamaro, Suzuki Harunobu, Ito Shinsui, Toyohara Chikanobu and Torii Kiyonaga, are widely regarded as the greatest innovators and masters of the form.