[6][7] In order to receive permittance to make the film, Mizoguchi argued that Utamaro was "a popular democratic painter"[8] and agreed to emphasize the topic of female emancipation.

Both of them worked in a popular mass-produced medium operated by businessmen, and chafed under oppressive censorship regimes; both frequented the pleasure quarters and sought the company of geishas; but, most significantly, they both achieved fame for their portraits of women.

"[6] Initially, Japanese critics believed that the film didn't live up to the director's usual high standards, an opinion which was in parts re-evaluated in later years.

[6] The reviews by contemporary Western critics collected on Rotten Tomatoes regard Utamaro and His Five Women as an interesting, though not major work by Mizoguchi.

[11] In his review for Time Out, Tony Rayns rated it as "less emotional, more formalised, more mysterious, and a great deal more daring aestethically" than Mizoguchi's later films.