When <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Japan opened to trade with the West, and new technologies and industries flourished, Western customs also grew in popularity. The interest in Western fashion infused urban life in the major cities and often featured in the prints from this time. Chikanobu was best known for his bijinga (images of beauties) and for creating ukiyo-e prints emphasising those attributes, both physical and behavioural, considered to be the hallmarks of feminine beauty. During the later Meiji period, Chikanobu illustrated the changing taste in women's fashion - from accessories and hairstyles to elaborately patterned fabrics ­- as a representation of the cross-cultural interaction that was taking place.

Mellissa Kavenagh, 2010.