Fine Weather in Early-summer

Kotondo often portrayed women who appear to be slightly behind the times, whose simple dress and hairstyles and unaffected gestures seem charmingly feminine. Among his works, this frontispiece (kuchi-e) from the May 1936 issue of the magazine Ukiyo-e Kai (Ukiyo-e World) well represents this feminine élan. Dressed in a simple striped kimono in subdued colors, the woman looks over her shoulder toward the viewer, her gaze impassive and peaceful. A glimpse of her red undergarment, accenting her bare neck, conveys a subtle and decorous eroticism.