Minneapolis Institute of Art

Autumn and Winter [left of the pair Scenes from the Tale of Genji in the Four Seasons]

Japan

Date

mid 17th century

Medium

Six-panel folding screen, one of a pair, ink, color, and gold on paper

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

This pair of screens depicts 11 scenes from The Tale of Genji . Rather than presenting the scenes in the order in which they appear in the story, however, the artist presents them in seasonal order from right to left, as Japanese viewers would read them. The artist begins with mid-spring in the upper right corner, where a group of young men play kemari (a game similar to hacky sack) in a grove of cherry trees in full bloom, a scene from chapter 34. Five additional scenes in the right screen take place in late spring and early summer. In the far right panels of the left screen, autumn grasses and maple leaves announce the arrival of fall. Wintry scenes from chapters 6 and 51 are depicted at far left, where trees and rooftops are blanketed in snow. Asia

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