Scene from the Spring Shoots II Chapter of The Tale of Genji

Although it is now mounted as a hanging scroll, this painting is one small section of a set of handscrolls illustrating The Tale of Genji. The painter, likely a woman, depicts a scene from chapter 35, “Spring Shoots II, ” when Genji accompanies several women on a pilgrimage. The women are shown in interior spaces defined by diagonal walls and screens. At far right two men are seated on a veranda. The three principal female characters at left are each identified by name. Monochrome drawings like this represent a style of painting known as hakubyō, or “white drawing.” Hakubyō-style pictures of The Tale of Genji were popular during the Muromachi period (1392–1573) and were created by amateur women painters in a private, aristocratic setting, in stark contrast to the colorful folding screens usually commissioned by powerful men and done by professional painters.