however, and do not impact the representation of the
containing notations about color and other details,
main characters and motifs, which were expected to
that other studio artists then complete (see fi g. 10).
maintain the tradition of depicting courtly charac-
Layers of mineral pigments and gold foil clouds ters with a degree of sameness. In courtly painting, diff erentiation occurred through the subtlest of distinctions, like the razor-thin strokes that textured the
eyes and eyebrows, the tilt of a character’s head, or
the relationship of the fi gure to surrounding fi gures
and motifs. Most importantly, however, diff erence
was read into each scene by a viewer informed by an
accompanying textual excerpt. Mitsunobu’s artistry
in the Genji Album is most apparent in the way in
which he closely calibrates each image with its cor-
responding inscribed leaf and his larger knowledge
of the tale. Such inscriptions, as mentioned, were no
longer the long descriptive prose passages excerpted
for handscroll illustrations of the Genji, as in earlier
works, but allusive poems and brief prose passages
chosen for their relevance to the body of secondary
texts, linked verse gatherings, and Noh dramas that
characterized late medieval Genji culture. Viewers
projected identities onto and thereby individualized
the fi gures within the Genji Album by taking cues
from the accompanying excerpt and its associations.
In other words, while a degree of sameness was inte-
gral to Mitsunobu’s practice, to informed viewers,
these images with their subtle diff erences were far
Fig. 7 Tosa Mitsunobu (act. ca 1462–1525), painting for
f rom repetitive.
The Lady of the Evening Faces (Yūgao), Chapter Four f rom
The sheer length of The Tale of Genji meant that
The Tale of Genji Album. 1510. Ink on paper, 24.3 x 18.1 cm.
Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge.
each of the fi fty-four chapters off ered countless pos-
Introduction| 11
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Fig. 8 A Contest of Illustrations (Eawase), Chapter Seventeen of The Tale of Genji. By Tosa Mitsunobu.
Circa early sixteenth century. One thread-bound book with paintings on f ront cover ( left), and back cover ( right). Ink, colors, and gold on paper, 25.4 × 17.2 cm. Tenri University Library, Nara.
sible scenes for illustration, and though the patron
(Mitsunobu), having consulted a “Genji picture man-
no doubt made his preferences known, he, the coor-
ual” ( Genji no eyō) and its “esoterica” ( hiji) on his
dinators, and Mitsunobu would have worked f rom
own.51 He mentions scenes of the “Hatsune” and
preexisting templates. The majority of paintings in
“Nowaki” chapters, for example, and the costumes
the 1510 Genji Album in fact depict scenes included
of their painted fi gures, demonstrating how patrons
in picture manuals and digests of the period, which
or coordinators could critique the smallest details of
provided patrons of Genji pictures with a menu of
an artist’s work. By the time Mitsunobu was com-
text and image options for every chapter in the tale.49
missioned to create Sue’s Genji pictures, he brought
Sanetaka was known to have borrowed, at least some thirty-fi ve years of experience and feedback once, a fi ve-volume “Genji picture manual” ( Genji
f rom an exacting clientele.
eyō sōshi) for another project years later.50 Mitsunobu
While such manuals gave patrons and coor-
had in fact been catering to patrons and coordina-
dinators ideas about which scenes and specifi c
tors armed with such manuals since early in his
elements of Genji iconography to request, an artist
career. In 1476, for example, the courtier Nakanoin
of Mitsunobu’s stature would have had his own store
Michihide (1428–1494) off ered comments on several
of drawings to be handed down within his studio to
Genji paintings executed by the Painting Bureau represent its unique approach to visualizing the tale.
12 | The Tale of Genji
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Fig. 9 Shoots of Wisteria Leaves ( Fuji no uraba), Chapter Thirty-Three of The Tale of Genji.
Calligraphy attributed to Kanroji Motonaga (1457–1527), ca. early sixteenth century.
One thread-bound book, ink on paper, 25.4 × 34.4 cm. Idemitsu Museum of Art, Tokyo.
Such templates would have been necessary, moreover,
chapter book (fi g. 9) has been attributed to the court-
because of the sheer number of paintings his studio
ier Kanroji Motonaga (1457–1527), and it shows how
was called on to produce. He was asked, for example,
the calligrapher added the names of characters, as
to create the front and back cover illustrations for
they had come to be known by the sixteenth cen-
sets of individually bound Genji chapters, requiring
tury, in the margins, where the original text uses
a total of 108 paintings, two for each chapter. Two
only offi
cial titles or elides the referent altogether.
volumes from an original set of such fi fty-four chap-
The handwritten text thus suggests a reader familiar
ter books with Mitsunobu’s cover paintings survive
with The Tale of Genji, but one who would have been
today (fi gs. 8, 9, and ref. fi g., Ch. 33) and provide a
aided by these notes of identifi cation.53
glimpse of the luxuriousness of these book sets. The
While only two volumes f rom what was likely
calligraphy on the rectangular title slips in the upper
an original set of fi fty-four survive, copies of the
left corner of the front covers appears to be in the
f ront and back covers of additional volumes by
hand of Emperor GoKashiwabara (1462–1526), while
Mitsunobu were made in the seventeenth century
the interior text of the chapters has been attributed
(fi g. 10).54 Some of the drawings represent Genji
to prominent courtiers active in the early sixteenth
scenes that are nearly identical to ones of the same
century.52 The text of the Shoots of Wisteria Leaves
chapter in the 1510 album, while others show alter-
Introduction| 13
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Fig. 10 Copies of Book Cover Paintings by Tosa Mitsunobu. By Sumiyoshi Gukei (1631–1705).
Dated 1675. Section showing the designs for The Lady of the Paulownia-Courtyard Chambers (Kiritsubo), Chapter One of The Tale of Genji, f ront cover ( left) and back cover ( right). Single handscroll, ink and light color on paper, paper sizes diff er: sheets 1–10: 27.3 × 348.9 cm; sheets 11�
�26: 23.5 × 417.3 cm, total width 766.2 cm. Tokyo National Museum.
native compositions. The book-cover drawings also
as depicted on the back cover of the book, and in
add more to our understanding of what readers in
the fi rst painting in the 1510 album. The book covers
Mitsunobu’s day considered to be the most defi ning
show these two events in chronological order, f ront
moments of a given Genji chapter. Take for example
to back, and alert the reader to scenes that deserve
the two drawings for the book covers of Chapter
special attention while suggesting intriguing associ-
One, shown here, where on the f ront cover we fi nd
ations, and even causal links between the scenes.55
young Genji meeting the Korean physiognomist The patron and coordinators of the 1510 album may whose prognostication about Genji’s future hovers
have considered both of these painting options out
over the entire tale. It is in part based on this fortune
of a menu of designs, but they ultimately selected
telling that Genji’s father, the Emperor, decides to
the image of Genji’s coming-of-age ceremony.
make him a commoner, and thus his coming-of-age
By doing so they made sure the fi rst image in the
ceremony is held in the private quarters of the impe-
album included a view of the iconic Heian palace,
rial residence, rather than the offi
cial hall of state,
the fi gure of the Emperor, and a composition that
14 | The Tale of Genji
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hints at the political and interpersonal relationships
as part of bridal trousseaus for young women, there
between the sovereign, the Minister of the Left,
arose a need to recast aspects of Genji to suit the
and Genji.
ideology of marriage and the importance of wifely
duties undertaken for the good of a lineage. That
Content and Interpretation
is not to say, however, that diffi
cult passages and
emotionally complex episodes do not have a place
Based on these sketches of now lost chapter vol-
in the 1510 album or other examples; like Genji
umes and extant Genji paintings, it becomes clear
itself, the pictures accommodate diff erent levels of
that scenes that might be construed as inauspicious
interpretation.
went unrepresented. As a rule, formal polychrome
Often artists would adhere to standard iconog-
Genji paintings omit scenes depicting episodes of
raphy, while in other instances, they eschewed
spirit possession, as well as childbirth, or illness common templates altogether to create unique (conditions that usually render a person vulnerable
images customized to the interests or demands of
to an attacking spirit). The absence of such subject
specifi c patrons. Several scenes in the 1510 album
matter hints at the degree to which images were
seem tailor-made for the Sue house, those for
assumed to instantiate the things they represented.
Chapters Six, Twelve, Eighteen, and Twenty-Five,
Episodes depicting behavior deemed controver-
as will be explained. In general, the album’s paint-
sial within the world of the story are also avoided
ings have the cumulative eff ect of emphasizing
in emblematic pictorial representation. Examples Genji as the protagonist; he is often placed f ront include Genji’s abduction of the young Murasaki,
and center in the composition beneath a fl oating
which shocks the surrounding characters, or his sex-
gold cloud that functions as an emphatic rhetorical
ual violation of Murasaki four years later at the end
device. Such an emphasis is not necessarily a given,
of Chapter Nine, the traumatic nature of which is
despite the centrality of Genji in the narrative. The
registered through Murasaki’s reaction. Given the
preponderance of fully realized female characters in
nature of the function of albums and screens and
the tale, as well as women-centered scenes of dia-
fans of Genji, such complicated scenes might not
logue and interaction, meant that patrons, if they so
refl ect well on the patrons. And when albums and
desired, could select illustrations that might make
manuscript sets with illustrated covers were made
Genji seem like a minor character.56 The album’s
focus on Genji therefore represents, if not a delib-
erate choice, then at least a predilection. Scenes
of all-male gatherings are also conspicuous in the
album, which aligns with the culture of Genji lec-
tures and poetry gatherings f rom which women
were almost always excluded.57 Knowing the his-
torical context of the patron, these choices seem
unsurprising. A preponderance of such scenes not
only refl ects but also helps shape a narrative world
in which the patron may, if he chooses, identify with
Genji and aspire toward some of his power and priv-
ilege and charm, and perhaps even his self-scrutiny.
That is not to say, however, that the presence and
voices of female characters, so well-articulated in the
tale by its female author, are diminished in the 1510
Fig. 11 The Tale of Genji Album, previous cover. Edo period album’s representation of The Tale of Genji; quite the
(1615–1868), silk lampas, with gold and silver threads, 34.1 × 42
cm. Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge.
contrary. Many scenes in the album feature female
Introduction| 15
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Figs. 12, 13 The Tale of Genji Album. Frontispiece ( right), fi nispiece ( left) attributed to Tosa Mitsuoki (1617–1691). Ink, colors, and gold on silk, 34.1 × 42 cm. Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge.
characters on their own, and when read in conjunc-
concerns and how the creators of the album may
tion with the adjacent prose and poetry excerpts, the
have interpreted the story, the pages that follow
pairs of leaves give expression to a panoply of their
provide synopses of the chapters and interpreta-
thoughts, concerns, and actions. The album’s pro-
tions of each scene in the album based on my own
ducers may not have been especially sympathetic to
understanding of Murasaki’s tale, drawing from and
such characters but may have been simply respond-
building on the rich tradition of scholarship on The
ing to the centrality of women in the tale and their
Tale of Genji that began in the medieval period and
pivotal role within the marriage politics of the Heian
that continues to this day.
era. It can be just as rewarding therefore to analyze
the album’s juxtapositions of paintings and texts The 1510 Genji Album was remounted during the within the c
ontext of Murasaki’s eleventh-century
Edo period, placed between covers of Chinese bro-
tale. In this way, viewers of the album today need not
cade (fi g. 11) and adorned with f rontispiece and
limit themselves to considering only what it meant
fi nispiece paintings on silk that provide an appro-
to its audience in 1510, and it is in this spirit that I
priate visual f rame for the world of the story (fi gs.
off er these analyses of the album’s texts and images.
12, 13). These newly added paintings are attributed
While paying close attention to sixteenth-century
to the artist Tosa Mitsuoki (1617–1691), and they
16 | The Tale of Genji
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depict the famous legend of the genesis of The
Opening the album today, we fi rst see Murasaki
Tale of Genji, showing Murasaki Shikibu compos-
at her desk imagining her tale, then turn the pages to
ing her masterpiece at Ishiyamadera. As the story
experience all fi fty-four chapters of her completed
goes, she had been charged by Her Highness the
work in microcosm. The source of Murasaki’s con-
Empress Jōtōmon’in (Fujiwara no Shōshi 988–1074)
templation, the moon refl ected on the waters of
with the task of writing a new tale and traveled to
Lake Biwa, appears in the fi nispiece, only visible
Ishiyamadera to pray to its famous Nyoirin Kannon
to us after we have turned over the fi nal leaf of the
for inspiration. On the fi fteenth night of the eighth
album. There we fi nd a view of the temple in its
month, the night in autumn when the moon was
landscape with the bright white disc of the moon
at its fullest and most luminous, she looked out
glowing in the sky while its illusory counterpart
f rom her temple perch over Lake Biwa, gazed on
fl oats on the water below. The temple’s main hall
the glowing orb refl ected on the surface of the stands to the left, complete with the Chinese-style water, and suddenly the idea was born. She picked
window that marks the famous “Genji room” where
up her brush, but with no paper at hand, reached
Murasaki was said to have composed her tale. The
The Tale of Genji- A Visual Companion Page 4
