Woman Waiting for the Moon to Rise, Shoen Uemura,1944.

The beauty of women has long been a favorite subject for many artists. For example, during the Heian Period (794-1185), beautiful women were often depicted on picture scrolls, and in the Edo Period (1603-1867) they were seen in ukiyo-e (Japanese-genre paintings and prints).
It was not until the Meiji Era (1868-1912), however, that bijin-ga (painting of beautiful women) was established as a sub-genre of nihonga (Japanese-style painting). Other sub-genres also developed, such as kacho-ga (painting of birds and flowers) and sansui-ga (landscape painting).