Scenes from the Tales of Ise
Unknown Artist
mid-1600s
Medium
One of a pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color and gold on paper
Dimensions
109.3 × 258.9 cm · image: 95.2 × 267 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Japanese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1969.127.2
About this artwork
While the 11th-century Tale of Genji is universally regarded as Japan's literary masterpiece, the source for visual imagery in Japanese culture is rivaled by another literary classic, the Tales of Ise. A 10th-century anthology of poems interspersed with commentary, the Ise portrays the emotional and geographical journey of a courtier from the capital (Kyoto) into the countryside and beyond. The poems describe features of the natural, untamed terrain, linking them to the rather melancholy state o...