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Secondary sourcePaintingmid-17th century

A Branch of Sacred Evergreen (Sakaki), Phantom Genji Scrolls

mid-17th century

A mid-1600s Japanese handscroll section illustrating the Sakaki chapter of Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji.

This painting illustrates a chapter of Murasaki Shikibu's novel, showing its continuing artistic influence after her death.

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Horizontal Japanese painting on a gold-leaf ground showing a long, multi-level palace building in cutaway view, with green-roofed galleries and rooms holding seated figures in colorful robes. Pine trees frame the left and right edges, and small figures stand on the lower walkways.
Unknown artist, "A Branch of Sacred Evergreen" (Sakaki), Phantom Genji Scrolls (Moriyasu Version), mid-17th century. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

About this source

What it is

This is a section of a painted handscroll from the Edo period, made with ink, color, and gold on paper. It illustrates the "Sakaki" (Sacred Evergreen) chapter of the Tale of Genji and belongs to the same set as the Phantom Genji Scrolls. It is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Why it matters

Murasaki Shikibu wrote the Tale of Genji around the year 1000 at the Japanese imperial court. Centuries later, artists continued to paint scenes from her novel, showing how central the story remained to Japanese art and court life.

Look closer

  • What does the cutaway view of the palace let you see that a normal view would not?
  • Why might the artist have chosen a gold background?
  • What might this scene tell us about the kind of life the story describes?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Murasaki Shikibu on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Fragment of a decorated handscroll page with black calligraphic Japanese script running in vertical columns on gold-flecked paper with dark green and gold scattered patches and faint grass-like brushstrokes. A printed caption in the lower right reads in Japanese.Book

Primary source

The Tale of Genji

Murasaki Shikibu · c. 1010

Open double-page spread of a Japanese manuscript with gold and silver flecks scattered on brown-orange and dark mauve paper. Black cursive kana calligraphy runs in vertical columns on both pages.Book

Primary source

Kokin Wakashū

Ki no Tsurayuki and compilers · c. 905-920

Diary entry

Primary source

The Diary of Lady Murasaki

Murasaki Shikibu · c. 1008–1010

Scan of a page of handwritten Japanese cursive calligraphy in brown ink on pale paper, written in vertical columns. This is the final part of the Tosa Nikki diary, copied by Fujiwara no Teika in the 13th century.Diary entry

Primary source

Tosa Nikki

Ki no Tsurayuki · 935 (copy 13th century)

Photograph of the front cover of a Japanese book bound in pale green-grey paper. A vertical cream label on the cover bears brush-written Japanese characters and a small seal-like stamp appears at lower left. A color calibration chart and a metric ruler are along the edges of the image.Book

Secondary source

Eiri Genji Monogatari

Yamamoto Shunshō · 1650

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