An Honest Girl, from the Series "A Parent's Moralising Spectacles"

A young woman with her hair piled high and set with a comb and hairpins is painted large at the center. She seems to be holding a thin paper twist near her mouth and trying to wind and tie it around her right wrist. At the upper left is a picture of round spectacles, and beside it the title and a moral text are written.

According to the museum's commentary, the girl is earnestly trying to tie the paper twist, whether for some wish or to pledge a promise to the man she loves. The moral text titled "Honest Girl" warns that faith in gods and Buddhas is good, but one must not go too far in relying on them or consulting fortunes over small daily matters.

From this the commentary imagines that by this time not a few women were absorbed in fortune-telling and charms. Utamaro studied under Toriyama Sekien and rose with the backing of the publisher Tsutaya Juzaburo, winning popularity with series of large-head portraits of beauties that seem to probe the inner self. The print is 38.4 cm high and 25.4 cm wide.