Jinbutsu gafu人物画譜 are best understood as 'genre books'. Their content is comparable to that of European 'genre paintings'. The latter present '...scenes from everyday life, of ordinary people in work or recreation, depicted in a generally realistic manner. ...The elimination of imaginative content and of idealisation focuses attention upon the shrewd observation of types, costumes, and settings.' (See https://www.britannica.com/art/genre-painting)

'Scenes from everyday life realistically depicted' describes precisely the content of jinbutsu gafu. These books, which were much in vogue in the first third of the nineteenth century, present all classes in society at work and play through the course of the year. The creators of jinbutsu gafu presented close observations of the world in which they lived and worked in a lively and playful manner. The opening inscription (daiji 題字) in Yamaguchi Soken's Yamato jinbutsu gafu perfectly captures the spirit of these books. It reads: 'playful brush-tip' (gōtan yūgi 毫端遊戯). The characters were written by Minagawa Ki'en 皆川淇園 (1734-1807), a noted Confucian scholar, poet and calligrapher.