Musasihno, Scene from the Episode 12 of "Ise monogatari" (Tales of Ise)
むさし野 『伊勢物語』一二段
- Birth Year
- 1922
- Death Year
- 1997
- Date
- 1971
- Technique, Material, Format
- color on paper, two-panel folding screen
- Dimension
- 140.0 x 212.0 cm
- Donor name
- Mr. Sata Yoshihiko
- Category
- Nihonga (Japanese-style Painting)
- Inventory Number
- 2004-JP-002
The Tales of Ise, a collection of stories related to poems from the Heian Period (794–1185), is thought to be based on the romantic exploits of the real-life aristocrat Ariwara no Narihira. Episode 12 is a story of an abduction that is commonly known as "Grasses of the Musashi Plain." The man runs off with a young woman without her parents’ permission. The pair escape to the featureless wilderness of Musashi Plain. Their pursuers threaten to set fire to the plain in order to flush them out, but they are saved when the woman cries out a poem expressing her feelings for the man and begging them to stop.
Sata Yoshiro was a diligent student of the classics. Here, his focus is on the torment of the woman, and only she, lying in the field with her eyes closed as if dreaming of her lover, is depicted.
(YATSUYANAGI Sae)