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Secondary sourcePainting1858

Lady Murasaki at her desk

Utagawa Kunisada · 1858

A 19th-century Japanese woodblock print imagining Murasaki Shikibu writing at her desk.

An imagined later portrait of Murasaki Shikibu writing, showing how she was remembered as a great author.

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Japanese woodblock print showing a woman in a green and blue patterned robe seated at a low yellow desk, writing in an open book with a brush, an inkstone and water dropper nearby. Long black hair falls behind her. Red title cartouche and artist signatures appear at top and right.
Utagawa Kunisada, Lady Murasaki at her desk, 1858.

About this source

What it is

This is a woodblock print made in 1858 by the Japanese artist Utagawa Kunisada, showing Murasaki Shikibu seated at a low writing desk with a brush, inkstone and water dropper nearby.

Why it matters

Murasaki Shikibu lived in Japan's Heian period, centuries before this print was made. Images like this show how later generations imagined and honoured her as Japan's most famous woman writer, long after her actual appearance was forgotten.

Look closer

  • What details suggest this is an artist's imagination rather than a true likeness?
  • Why might a 19th-century artist choose to depict a writer from centuries earlier?
  • What tools of writing can you identify in the picture?

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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