Skip to main content

Secondary sourcePainting1497

Lady Murasaki at Ishiyamadera

Tosa Mitsunobu · 1497

A scene from a medieval temple scroll showing Murasaki Shikibu seated at Ishiyama temple, painted about 500 years after her lifetime.

This later temple scroll imagines Murasaki Shikibu at Ishiyamadera, showing how legend grew around her centuries after her death.

Ask Murasaki Shikibu about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Detail of a Japanese handscroll painting in traditional style: a wooden veranda with diagonal railings, a robed figure with long black hair seated near orange curtains, and a green-patterned screen with pine trees at upper left.
Tosa Mitsunobu, Lady Murasaki Shikibu at the Ishiyamadera, 1497 (detail from temple scroll).

About this source

What it is

This is a detail from a Japanese handscroll (emaki) illustrating the legend of Ishiyamadera temple, painted by Tosa Mitsunobu in 1497. It shows a robed figure with long black hair seated on a wooden veranda near orange curtains, with a decorated screen behind her.

Why it matters

The scroll reflects a temple legend that linked Murasaki Shikibu, the famous court writer, to Ishiyamadera. It was made centuries after she lived, so it tells us more about how later generations imagined and honored her than about her real appearance.

Look closer

  • What details in the painting suggest wealth or status?
  • Why might a temple want to connect its history to a famous writer?
  • What is missing if this image was painted 500 years after she lived?

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.

More Murasaki Shikibu sources

Meet the AI Murasaki Shikibu →
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

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Murasaki Shikibu now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions