Chapter 20, Genji notices a young woman in a window across a moat

Utagawa Kunisada, artist

1786–1864

Chapter 20, Genji notices a young woman in a window across a moat, 1852, Edo period (1600–1868)

Portfolio/Series title: Sono sugata yukari no utsushi-e (Modern Retelling of the Tale of Genji)

Where object was made: Japan

Material/technique: color woodcut

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 238.1 x 377.8 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 9 3/8 x 14 7/8 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 252.4 x 366.7 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 9 15/16 x 14 7/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 16 x 20 in

Credit line: Gift of Mrs. Arthur S. Johnson (The May Finney Marcy Collection)

Accession number: 1964.0054

Not on display

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Label texts

Exhibition Label:
"The Art of Stories Told," Jun-2004, Veronica de Jong
Ryūtei Tanehiko, an author of popular fiction, and his publisher decided that in order to compete with popular Chinese-based literature they would write a new version of the Tale of Genji. Illustrations of this new version titled Nise Murasaki inka Genji were provided by Kunisada who worked closely with Tanehiko. Genji was now called Mitsuuji and lived during the Muromachi period (1336-1573). He was also a prince like Genji, but was searching for a sword called Kogarasumaru, a family hierloom. His search required him to feign a playboy’s lifestyle, indulging in numerous affairs as Genji had. This print shows Mitsuuji in contemporary dress with an unusual hairstyle characterized by a shape like a shrimp’s tail. In this illustration he is shown with two attendants admiring two women from a distance. In the original novel there are numerous occasions when Genji spied on beautiful women known and unknown to him, he discovered the central woman in his life, Murasaki, in this way.