Identification and Creation
Object Number
1985.352.35.B
People
Reizei Tamehiro, Japanese (1450 - 1526)
Title
Spring Shoots II (Wakana: ge), Calligraphic Excerpt from Chapter 35 of the Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari)
Other Titles
Transliterated Title: Genji monogatari: Wakana: ge
Classification
Calligraphy
Work Type
calligraphy, album leaf
Date
Muromachi period, datable to 1509-1510
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, Japan, Kyoto Metropolitan Area, Kyōto
Period
Muromachi period, 1392-1568
Culture
Japanese
Physical Descriptions
Medium
The thirty-fifth of a series of 54 kotobagaki (calligraphic album leaves) mounted in an album with illustrations; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
H. 24.3 cm x W. 18.4 cm (9 9/16 x 7 1/4 in.)
Acquisition and Rights
Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of the Hofer Collection of the Arts of Asia
Accession Year
1985
Object Number
1985.352.35.B
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions
Description
Murasaki:

Before the dew dries
That has clung to the lotus-
O fragile fortune-
Surely it would be foolish
To think I shall not be gone.

Genji:

Bind we by an oath:
Let us be as two dewdrops
On one lotus leaf;
Do not let us be apart,
Dear heart, though not in this world.

[Translation by Edwin A. Cranston]
Publication History

Kaori Chino, "Tokushû: Genji monogatari gajô - Hâvâdo Daigaku Bijutsukan zô" [Special Issue: The Tale of Genji Album in the Collection of Harvard University Art Museums] (Tokyo, Japan, 1997), p. 56

Anne Rose Kitagawa, "Behind the Scenes of Harvard's Tale of Genji album", Apollo, Vol. CLIV No. 477, November 2001, p. 29 / Fig. 2 (right)

Melissa McCormick, "Genji Goes West: The 1510 Genji Album and the Visualization of Court and Capital", Art Bulletin, College Art Association of America (New York, March 2003), LXXXV No. 1, p. 55 / Fig. 1 (right)

Melissa McCormick, The Tale of Genji: A Visual Companion, Princeton University Press (Princeton, 2018)

Exhibition History

Plum, Orchid, Chrysanthemum, and Bamboo: Botanical Motifs and Symbols in East Asian Painting, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 07/06/2002 - 01/05/2003

Cultivating Virtue: Botanical Motifs and Symbols in East Asian Art, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 07/08/2006 - 04/08/2007

Related Works

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu