Murasaki Shikibu at Ishiyamadera Temple

What it is

This hanging scroll was painted around 1892 by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, a Japanese artist of the Meiji period. It is based on a print from his series One Hundred Aspects of the Moon and shows a woman identified as Murasaki Shikibu seated at Ishiyama Temple, where tradition holds she began writing her famous novel. The scroll is now held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Why it matters

Made almost nine centuries after Murasaki's lifetime, this artwork shows how her story continued to inspire artists long after she died. It reveals how the legend of her writing at a moonlit temple became a popular subject in Japanese art.

Look closer

• What mood does the misty mountain background create?
• Why might the artist connect Murasaki to the moon in this series?
• What does this image add to, or leave out of, the story of how she wrote her novel?