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Secondary sourcePhotograph1930

Photograph of the Nijō Tameaki Asagao Chapter

金子元臣 · 1930

A 1930 photograph of a manuscript page attributed to Nijō Tameaki, containing a chapter of Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji.

Documents a manuscript copy attributed to Nijō Tameaki of Murasaki Shikibu's novel.

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Photograph of a handwritten page in Japanese brush cursive script, arranged in vertical columns of ink on pale paper with a grey border. A small inked mark appears near the middle of the page.
金子元臣, photograph of the Nijō Tameaki Asagao chapter, 1930. From 『定本源氏物語新解』.

About this source

What it is

This 1930 photograph by 金子元臣 shows a manuscript page traditionally attributed to Nijō Tameaki, containing the Asagao chapter of The Tale of Genji. It was published in a scholarly edition of the novel.

Why it matters

Murasaki Shikibu's novel was copied by hand for centuries before printing became common, and different copyists, including figures like Nijō Tameaki, left their own versions. This photograph is evidence of that chain of transmission.

Look closer

  • What clues in the handwriting might help scholars attribute a manuscript to a particular copyist?
  • Why is it useful to compare different manuscript copies of the same story?
  • What is lost or changed when a story is copied by hand many times over centuries?

This photograph 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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