Scenes from the Tales of Saigyō [left of a pair]

The Tales of Saigyō narrate the life of the eponymous samurai poet who gave up his title to become an itinerant monk. The story of Saigyō’s lifelong travels was first illustrated in the thirteenth century in a set of four painted handscrolls, and the scenes depicted here are based on those originals. The right screen depicts Saigyō’s first New Year after he took the tonsure. He appears alone in the leftmost panel, admiring the blossoms of a nearby plum tree. In the upper left of the left screen, Saigyō kneels before the wall of a shrine. On a journey through the rugged Kii Peninsula, Saigyō became so inspired by the cherry blossoms that he composed a poem and brushed it on the wall of a shrine. At lower right of the same screen, Saigyō parts ways with two monks he met on his journey.