The Genji Monogatari Scroll Paintings from the Standpoint of Costumes and Interiors

If one compares the fragments of the scroll paintings of the Genji Monogatari in the possession of the Tokugawa and the Masuda families to the text of the novel, one is aware that these fragments seem to have been preserved in groups. However, a careful comparison of the nineteen scenes shows that each one has its own particular characteristics. In the treatment of the costumes and the interiors the manner of expression varies among the different scenes, and there are some scenes of a completely individual type. There are, for example, three different manners of portraying the every-day clothes (nōshi) worn by the aristocracy and of showing the several layers of colours of the under-garments and outer garments. The design on the hitoe (woman's undergarment) is sometimes different on the verso and the recto of the same garment. In other scenes this is not true and the two surfaces of the garment bear the same desigin. Even in the kuchikigata design of the hanging curtain-screen, there are some five different ways of applying the colour ; some colours are thick, some are thin and their application varies from the very adroitly painted to the awkward. The manner of painting is also different. There is apparently no doubt that a certain number of painters collaborated in the painting of this scroll. Among them, the most important were responsable for the first composition as well as for the finishing touches. The fact that there were several principal painters is proved by the difference in the scenes resulting from the painter's knowledge of court life, from the greater or lesser use of detail, and from the understanding of the meaning of the written text. Accordingly, if an attempt is made to group the scenes which exist today, those showing the best knowledge of the imperial court are Kashiwagi, Suzumushi and Minori. Those scenes best describing the novel are Yokobue, Yūgiri and Takekawa. The senes least carefully represented from the point of view of costume and interiors are Hashihime Yadorogi and Azumaya. As far as the chronology of the costumes is concerned, the shape of the crowns and the every-day clothing of the men show forms posterior to those worn by courtiers in the door painting of the Ujigami Shrine in Kyoto. This shrine is considered to have been constructed before 1124. Thus 1124 may be accepted as the earliest date limit to which the Genji Monogatari scroll paintings may be assigned.