Kō Sūkoku
1794 (Kansei 6)
Tangible Cultural Property, designated by Sakata city
Donated by the Homma family
This pair of folding screens depicts scenes taken from two chapters—“Suma” and “Miotsukushi”—of Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji, considered by many to be the world’s first novel. Consisting of 54 chapters, the novel depicts the life of Hikaru Genji, the son of an early Japanese emperor, and the wider world of Heian aristocrats.
These screens are thought to be Kō Sūkoku’s (1730–1804) reproduction of a six-panel folding screen by literati painter Hanabusa Itchō (1652–1724). Itchō’s work is titled “The Tale of Genji: Akashi and Miotsukushi,” and is a Tangible Cultural Property designated by Chiyoda City in Tokyo.
In March 1797, Mitsuoka, the third-generation head of the Homma family, received the folding screens as a gift of thanks from Uesugi Yōzan, the ninth feudal lord of the Yonezawa Domain.
【Suma】
This screen takes the “Suma” chapter as its subject. In the screen, Genji is about to welcome autumn at his residence.
As autumn approaches, Hikaru Genji is discovered in a secret dalliance with Oborozukiyo—a favorite handmaiden of the present emperor, who is Genji’s half-brother—and fearing political repercussions, he decides to go into a self-imposed exile in Suma in Settsu Province (present-day Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture).
【Miotsukushi “Channel Markers”】
Taking the “Miotsukushi” chapter as its subject, this screen depicts a scene in which Genji makes a pilgrimage to Sumiyoshi Shrine. Lady Akashi—one of Genji’s numerous lovers—who by chance is also visiting the shrine, sees Genji and is acutely conscious of the differences in their social statuses, and withdraws without letting him know of her presence.
“Miotsukushi,” literally “water-channel markers,” refer to stakes or poles used to measure the depth of the channel in which the egret is perching. They are depicted at the bottom right of the screen. In poetry, the same word also plays on the phrase “even at the cost of my life,” which Genji and the Lady Akashi use when they exchange poems after their non-encounter at the shrine.