r/ukiyoe

Why was this seemingly innocent Japanese woodblock print considered too suggestive in 1930?

Torii Kotondo’s Morning Hair (Asanegami) depicts a young woman just after waking, her hair loose as she rests against a pillow beneath a green mosquito net.

When the original edition was published, Japanese authorities objected to the intimate scene. Only a small number of impressions had been sold before the remaining prints were reportedly confiscated and destroyed.

The problem wasn’t nudity, but what the image implied – her disheveled hair, the pillow, and the intimate morning setting suggested that she had spent the night with someone.

Today, Morning Hair is one of Kotondo’s best-known and most sought-after designs.

#ToriiKotondo #MorningHair #ShinHanga #JapaneseWoodblockPrints #Bijinga #JapaneseArt #Ukiyoe