Koi no Bu, Utamaro challenges himself to express the inner emotional states of his subjects. The prints in this series have garnered particularly favourable praise amongst Utamaro's large body of work. The characters in the term kasen (, "anthology of poems") is a neologism of Utamaro's; it is thought to parody the terms kasen (, "great poet[s]") and senka (, "selection of poems"). Koi no Bu (, "The Love Section") parodies the section headings in waka and kyōka poetry anthologies, which typically have sections on love, the four seasons, and other themes. Ukiyo-e series on the subject of the four seasons are common, and Utamaro may have chosen "love" in conscious response to that. Utamaro had a history of providing illustrations for poetry collections, such as the Tsutaya-published E-iri Kyōka-bon of . Mare ni Au Koi The woman in Mare ni Au Koi (, "love that rarely meets") appears quite young and sheltered; she is probably in her teens. She wears an ornate kushi-kanzashi comb-shaped hairpin and bashfully sticks her fingers just barely from the sleeve of her kimono. The title refers not to a woman who rarely meets her lover, but to a shy young woman inexperienced in love, and her expression is the most withdrawn in the series. Mono-omoi Koi The woman in Mono-omoi Koi (, "reflective love" or "anxious love") has her eyebrows shaved—sign of a married woman. She appears to be the eldest in the series—perhaps even middle-aged—and to come from an affluent background. She wears an elegant, subdued kimono with a pattern of plovers. The woman rests her right cheek lightly on the back of her right hand and narrows her eyes in thought. In line with the theme of the series, she must be pondering love—perhaps an illegitimate lover or old memories of love. Some consider it the finest example from the series, and others suggest the picture pairs with Fukaku Shinobu Koi. Fukaku Shinobu Koi The woman in Fukaku Shinobu Koi (, "deeply hidden love") has blackened her teeth with ohaguro, which normally signifies a married woman, but she lacks the shaved eyebrows that would also signify her being married; she is perhaps yet young and recently married. Her ornate kanzashi hairpin has a flower design on it. She looks down and holds a kiseru tobacco pipe in her right hand. She stares off, her shoulders raised, eyes narrowed, and tiny lips pursed,