K\u014d S\u016bkoku<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1794 (Kansei 6)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tangible Cultural Property, designated by Sakata city<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Donated by the Homma family<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This pair of folding screens depicts scenes taken from two chapters\u2014\u201cSuma\u201d and \u201cMiotsukushi\u201d\u2014of Murasaki Shikibu\u2019s The Tale of Genji, considered by many to be the world\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These screens are thought to be K\u014d S\u016bkoku\u2019s (1730\u20131804) reproduction of a six-panel folding screen by literati painter Hanabusa Itch\u014d (1652\u20131724). Itch\u014d\u2019s work is titled \u201cThe Tale of Genji: Akashi and Miotsukushi,\u201d and is a Tangible Cultural Property designated by Chiyoda City in Tokyo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In March 1797, Mitsuoka, the third-generation head of the Homma family, received the folding screens as a gift of thanks from Uesugi Y\u014dzan, the ninth feudal lord of the Yonezawa Domain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u3010Suma\u3011<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This screen takes the \u201cSuma\u201d chapter as its subject. In the screen, Genji is about to welcome autumn at his residence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As autumn approaches, Hikaru Genji is discovered in a secret dalliance with Oborozukiyo\u2014a favorite handmaiden of the present emperor, who is Genji\u2019s half-brother\u2014and fearing political repercussions, he decides to go into a self-imposed exile in Suma in Settsu Province (present-day Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u3010Miotsukushi \u201cChannel Markers\u201d\u3011<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taking the \u201cMiotsukushi\u201d chapter as its subject, this screen depicts a scene in which Genji makes a pilgrimage to Sumiyoshi Shrine. Lady Akashi\u2014one of Genji\u2019s numerous lovers\u2014who 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMiotsukushi,\u201d literally \u201cwater-channel markers,\u201d 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 \u201ceven at the cost of my life,\u201d which Genji and the Lady Akashi use when they exchange poems after their non-encounter at the shrine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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