Genji Monogatari Emaki
(The Tale of Genji Illustrated Scrolls)

The National Treasure Genji monogatari emaki, or the Tale of Genji Illustrated Scrolls, is the earliest existing pictorial version of this novel dated to the first half of the 12th century, around the time of the retired emperors Goshirakawa (1053-1129) and Toba (1103-1156). Believed to have been produced primarily at court, about a century after Lady Murasaki wrote The Tale of Genji, this celebrated set of illustrated handscrolls beautifully conveys the ambience of court culture of the time. The embodiment of the perfection of court culture, this work among the many other pictorial representations of Genji represents an outstanding achievement with its exquisite illustrations and meticulously calligraphed text sections on sumptuously decorated paper. The expressive scenes filled with emotion powerfully capture the tale's lyricism and the inner feelings of the characters.
Today, the Gotoh Museum in Tokyo owns one volume, which previously belonged to the Hachisuka clan, whose leaders were the lords of Awa Province (modern Tokushima Prefecture), and the Tokugawa Art Museum owns three volumes, which were passed down in the Owari Tokugawa clan. These four volumes together make up nineteen pictorial scenes with textual sections, and only one section of explanation (for the Eawase (Painting Contest) chapter). Further, in addition to the various fragments of explanatory sections, only 20 of the 54 chapters of The Tale of Genji are known today, suggesting that the set originally had a considerable number of volumes.
For the purpose of protection, the original three volumes of the handscrolls were separated into forty-three sheets and each of the sheets was framed in 1932. However they were remounted again as handscroll format during 2016-2020, in view of long-term preservation.