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The Tale of Genji, chapter 2: Prince Genji's visit to Utsusemi
17th century
- Medium
- Ink, color and gold on paper
- Classification
- Paintings
- Dimensions
- H x W (overall): 171.6 x 376.7 cm (67 9/16 x 148 5/16 in)
- Culture
- Japanese
- Museum
- Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Asian Art
- Credit line
- Gift of Charles Lang Freer
- Rights
- CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the Smithsonian Institution
About this work
Written in the early eleventh century by a lady of the imperial court, Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji presents an enthralling narrative of the life of Prince Genji. Already illustrated before the end of the Heian period (794-1185), the pictorial conventions for Genji illustrations were well established. All fifty-four chapters, separated by golden clouds, could be illustrated on a large Japanese screen, but sometimes one chapter was illustrated on one of a pair of screens.
