Murasaki Shikibu Nikki Emaki

Murasaki Shikibu Nikki Emaki
ja: 紫式部日記絵巻
First painting of the Fujita scroll showing two courtiers on the balcony of a building and men lighting torches in the garden outside the house
ArtistUnknown
Completion date13th century
Medium
MovementYamato-e
SubjectMurasaki Shikibu
DesignationNational Treasure
Location

The Murasaki Shikibu Nikki Emaki (紫式部日記絵巻) is a mid-13th century emaki (Japanese picture scroll) inspired by the private diary (nikki) of Murasaki Shikibu, lady-in-waiting at the 10th–11th century Heian court and author of The Tale of Genji. This emaki belongs to the classical style of Japanese painting known as yamato-e, and revives the iconography of the Heian period.

Today there remain four paper scrolls of the emaki in varying condition, and stored in different collections: Hachisuka, Matsudaira, Hinohara scrolls (Tokyo), and Fujita scroll (Fujita Art Museum, Osaka).[1][2] Of the extant scrolls, the first relates the celebrations on occasion of the birth of prince Atsunari (Atsuhira, later Emperor Go-Ichijō) in 1008 and the last those of the birth of Prince Atsunaga (later Emperor Go-Suzaku) in 1009. This difference in time indicates that the original emaki most likely consisted of more scrolls than exist today.[2][3]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference f-morikawa-emuseum was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Okudaira 1973, p. 131
  3. ^ 紫式部日記絵巻 [Murasaki Shikibu Diary Emaki] (in Japanese), Gotoh Museum, archived from the original on 30 March 2019, retrieved 30 April 2009