幻の源氏物語絵巻　「榊」|“A Branch of Sacred Evergreen” (Sakaki), from the Phantom Genji Scrolls (Maboroshi no Genji monogatari emaki)

Unknown

mid-17th century · Handscroll section mounted on board; ink, color and gold on paper · Asian Art

Now dispersed across multiple collections, Chapter 10 originally consisted of six scrolls with approximately thirty paintings. This meticulously detailed section captures the tonsure (cutting off one’s hair to become a monk or nun) of Genji’s stepmother, Fujitsubo, after an elaborate multiday ceremony of Eight Lectures on the Lotus Sutra commemorating the one-year anniversary of the Kiritsubo Emperor’s death.

Artist

Unknown

Date

mid-17th century

Medium

Handscroll section mounted on board; ink, color and gold on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015