“A Boat Cast Adrift” (Ukifune)
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Sata Yoshirō’s long engagement with copying sections of the National Treasure Genji Scrolls no doubt inspired him to create this screen of Chapter 51, “A Boat Cast Adrift.” The most common depiction of this episode, established by the seventeenth century, shows Ukifune and Niou in a boat on the Uji River, near a small island in the snow. Sata eliminates the landscape details and focuses on the couple drifting with the current under the reflection of the moon. The Uji River is shown in white, its current captured with ink lines, and the figures glow under the golden moonlight. Close examination of Ukifune’s striking long hair reveals the subtle yet effective accents of ultramarine mineral pigment in the black ink.
Artwork Details
- 佐多芳郎筆 「浮舟」
- Title: “A Boat Cast Adrift” (Ukifune)
- Artist: Sata Yoshirō (Japanese, 1922–1997)
- Period: Shōwa period (1926–89)
- Date: 1966
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Two-panel folding screen; ink, color, and gold on paper
- Dimensions: 55 1/8 × 83 7/8 in. (140 × 213 cm)
- Classification: Screens
- Credit Line: Lent by Osaragi Jirō Memorial Museum
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art