Minneapolis Institute of Art

Murasaki Shikibu at Ishiyamadera

Watanabe Seitei

Date

c. 1900–1910

Medium

Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

This painting imagines the autumn night at the Buddhist temple Ishiyamadera when Murasaki Shikibu is said to have begun writing The Tale of Genji. Sitting on a veranda overlooking the lake, she gazes at a misty moon. The soft pink outer robe she wears in the painting is decorated with an overall pattern of blooming eulalia grasses, whose feathery seed spikes turn silver in autumn and are closely associated in Japan with moon viewing. Asia

The authoritative record is held by Minneapolis Institute of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.