About the Cover

The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari 源氏物語) is a classic of world literature. Japanese readers have been fascinated by the novel since Murasaki Shikibu 紫式部, a lady-in-waiting at the imperial court, completed it during the first decade of the eleventh century. The peak of premodern interest in Genji came during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, when the tale dominated the cultural lives not only of court elites but also of warriors who aspired to cultural distinction. Genji was everywhere during that time—in readings, lectures, discussions, plays, calligraphic inscriptions, and paintings.

The cover image for this issue is a product of the late medieval culture of Genji. Sue Saburō 陶三郎, a leading retainer of the influential Ōuchi 大内 warrior house, commissioned the work now known as the Harvard Genji Album. Completed in 1510, the album originally comprised fifty-four paintings by Tosa Mitsunobu 土佐光信 (1434–1525), one for each of the novel's chapters. (One of Mitsunobu's paintings was lost and has been replaced in the extant album by another artist's work.) Each painting is paired with a textual excerpt by a prominent calligrapher. The image here illustrates the moment in the fifth chapter, "Young Murasaki" (Wakamurasaki 若紫), when Genji first espies Murasaki—the young girl in the center of the image—whom he adopts as his ward and later marries. HJAS thanks the Harvard University Art Museums for their kind permission to reproduce the image.

DLH

details: Tosa Mitsunobu, Young Murasaki (Wakamurasaki), illustration to chap. 5, in Genji monogatari, Muromachi period, 1509–1510. Fifth of a series of 54 painted album leaves mounted in an album with calligraphic excerpts; ink, color, and gold on paper; H. 24.2 cm x W. 18.0 cm. Harvard Art Museums /Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of the Hofer Collection of the Arts of Asia, 1985.352.5.A. Photo: Imaging Department © President and Fellows of Harvard College.