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Secondary sourcePainting

Murasaki Shikibu, from Honcho Imeijo Zukan

Utagawa Kunisada

A later woodblock print depicting Murasaki Shikibu, from an album of pictures of famous women.

A later imagined portrait of Murasaki Shikibu writing, from an album celebrating famous women.

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Woodblock print of a woman with long black hair, seated at a gold lacquer writing desk with an inkstone and brush, gazing upward. She wears a dark patterned robe over layered patterned garments. A cloud band is above, and a text panel with Japanese characters and the title Murasaki Shikibu is at upper left. Signature and seal at lower right.
Utagawa Kunisada, Murasaki Shikibu, from Chūgata Nishiki-e.

About this source

What it is

This woodblock print by Utagawa Kunisada shows Murasaki Shikibu seated at a yellow writing desk, gazing upward, with an inkstone box and brush beside her. She wears a patterned blue and grey robe, and a cartouche with Japanese text appears in the corner. It comes from a picture album titled Chūgata Nishiki-e, made by various artists.

Why it matters

Murasaki Shikibu was a court lady in Japan remembered as the author of The Tale of Genji, often considered one of the world's first great novels. This print, created long after she lived, places her among a gallery of famous women, showing how later artists imagined her in the act of writing, with tools of her craft close at hand.

Look closer

  • Why might the artist choose to show her writing rather than in another activity?
  • What does the setting and clothing tell you about how later generations pictured court life?
  • How might this image differ from how Murasaki actually looked, given it was made after her death?

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

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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

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Kokin Wakashū

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Diary entry

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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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