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Secondary sourcePaintingc. 1670

Murasaki Shikibu, hand-coloured woodblock print

Attributed to Hishikawa Moronobu · c. 1670

A hand-coloured print from a poetry anthology, imagining Murasaki Shikibu reclining beneath the moon.

An imagined likeness of Murasaki Shikibu from a popular anthology of poets.

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Hand-coloured woodblock print of a woman in a Heian-style robe reclining beside an orange-lacquered curtain or screen, with a full moon behind clouds at upper left and calligraphic poem text in black ink at right and top.
Attributed to Hishikawa Moronobu, Murasaki Shikibu, c. 1670.

About this source

What it is

This hand-coloured woodblock print, attributed to the Japanese artist Hishikawa Moronobu and made around 1670, is a page from the book One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets. It shows a woman in Heian-style robes beside a screen, with a poem in calligraphy.

Why it matters

Murasaki Shikibu's fame as a poet and novelist meant later artists imagined her again and again in print anthologies meant to honour great poets. This print, from over six centuries after she lived, shows her continuing presence in popular culture.

Look closer

  • What symbols, like the moon, connect to ideas about poetry and longing?
  • Why is the artist only

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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