"Evening Faces" chapter from The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari)
Kawamata Tsunemasa Japanese
Not on view
In Chapter Four of the narrative Prince Genji visits his old nurse. A young woman in the house next door sends her servant to Genji’s attendant, with the gift of a fan on which a yūgao (“evening faces”) flower has been placed. Genji and the lady embark upon a love affair that ends with her death, when she is possessed by the spirit of the jealous Lady Rokujō, another of Genji’s lovers.
This painting bears the signature and seal of Tsunemasa, a painter of ukiyo-e who specialized in pictures of beauties and also themes derived from literature. In his rendition of the “Yūgao” scene, he has dressed his figures in Edo-period garb rather than the multilayered robes of the Heian-period aristocracy. The tall beauty with the tortoiseshell hair comb may represent Yūgao rather than her attendant, and the smaller woman stands in for Genji’s manservant.
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