Bijin, or beautiful woman with a skull by Watanabe Nangaku (1767 – 1813)

What does this Japanese scroll reveal about the lives of courtesans in nineteenth century Japan?

This Japanese hanging scroll painting is painted in ink and coloured pigments onto silk. It was designed to be displayed in the display alcove of a Japanese room. The beautiful woman depicted in the painting is actually a courtesan. She appears very elegant and her grey kimono is quite refined and unshowy. However there are several clues that let you know that she is in fact a high-ranking prostitute - the elaborate hairpins she wears in her hair, the way she has hitched up her skirt to expose a flash of red undergarment and her bare feet peeping seductively out from under her kimono. In complete contrast to the beautiful courtesan is the gruesome-looking skull at her feet, which seems to strike rather a mysterious note. Why would Nangaku put a skull into his painting? The poem in the top left of the painting gives a key to understanding why it is there. The poem expresses the Buddhist idea of the transience of life and can be translated as however beautiful the courtesan might appear in the mirror, beneath the surface she, like all of us, is nothing more than bones, a situation that is starkly represented by the skull. Not on display. Available to view in Jameel Eastern Art Study Centre.

Link to Downloadable version of this image.