Bijin-ga

[3] For this reason, the essence of bijin-ga cannot always be expressed only through the depiction of a bijin, a woman aligning with the beauty image.

In fact, in ukiyo-e bijin-ga, it was not considered important that the picture resemble the facial features of the model, and the depiction of women in ukiyo-e bijin-ga is stylized rather than an attempt to create a realistic image;[4] For example, throughout the Edo period (1603–1867), married women had a custom of shaving their eyebrows (hikimayu), but in bijin-ga, there was a rule to draw the eyebrows for married women.

This technical development can also be seen in ukiyo-e bijin-ga, and many painters of bijin-ga contributed to the evolution of ukiyo-e techniques and styles, with the aim of maximizing the realistic expression of a real beauty living in the artists' time period.

However, a few, including Utamaro, Suzuki Harunobu, Itō Shinsui, Toyohara Chikanobu, and Torii Kiyonaga, have been described as the greatest innovators and masters of the form.

[citation needed] The term bijin-ga is also used for paintings that depict beautiful women with a brush, and the nihonga painter Uemura Shōen was awarded the Order of Culture for breaking new ground in bijin-ga by depicting a different type of beauty than what had been painted before.