The print Woman with Iris demonstrates Masami Teraoka's early proficiency in the ukiyo-e style, in which he brazenly depicts a geisha in a private sexual moment. Unashamedly displaying her naked body beneath the folds of a floral kimono, she uncomfortably leans forward as she fondles the leaves and petals of an iris flower. Teraoka has conveniently positioned the iris between the geisha's splayed legs which do not, at first glance, appear to be part of her body. Teraoka's adroit ability to draw his viewers towards the beauty of an image is in keeping with the ukiyo-e tradition of disguise. Illustrating an over-ripe beauty - through colour, form and text - was a deliberate ploy in which hidden meanings were inscribed through pose and symbol. The often erotic and salacious overtones of many of Teraoka's portraits and tableaux carry significant cross-cultural metaphors. The iris is a flower often associated with death: Iris was the Greek goddess of the rainbow who transported women's souls to the underworld.