Eight Views from The Tale of Genji

Soon after the Chinese theme of the Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers (cat. nos. 64, 77) was introduced to Japan in the mid-thirteenth century,[1] it was assimilated into Japanese literature and painting, gradually losing its original association with Zen Buddhism and assuming a connection to Japanese secular life. By the early fourteenth century, this thoroughly Chinese theme had become especially popular with poets who specialized in waka, the ultimate expression of Japanese culture. It is not surprising that the Genji monogatari, with its rich, poetic allusions to the seasons and to beautiful and evocative sites, was used as a source of inspiration for depictions of the Eight Views.
The earliest known text in which the Eight Views are combined with scenes from the Genji is one that was copied by Emperor Higashiyama (r. 1687–1709) and is now in the Museum of the Imperial Collections, Tokyo; a later copy, of 1768, is in the collection of Kyoto University. The present handscroll, with text and titles inscribed by eight unidentified calligraphers and paintings by Ishiyama Moroka (1669–1734)[2] may be the earliest known example of Genji monogatari hakkei (The Eight Views from the Tale of Genji).
Chinese artists did not observe a specific sequence of the Eight Views. Once the theme was introduced to Japan, however, it became customary to interpret Mountain Market, Clearing Mist as a scene of spring, thus to be placed at the beginning, and for River and Sky in Evening Snow, a winter scene, to be placed at the end.
The artist of the Burke scroll here signed with his youthful name, "Sahyoe no Kami Mototada." A high-ranking courtier and a pupil of Kano Einō (1631–1697), at that time the leading Kano artist in Kyoto, Moroka was known also for his waka poetry and for his carvings. Despite their lack of sophistication, these paintings from his youthful period are charming in their directness and sweet, high-key coloration. Moroka seems to be working here without the benefit of an earlier model and to be struggling, often without much success, to incorporate the scenes of the Eight Views into the Genji episodes. Invariably, the eight scenes depict Genji (and in one case his son, Yūgiri) seated or standing in a room at the right side of the composition, with the remaining space filled with a cursory description of settings that distinguish one scene from another.
a. "Hahakigi" (chapter 2, The Broom Tree); Eight Views: Night Rain on the Xiao and Xiang Rivers.

The sixteen-year-old Genji is seen at home on a rainy summer evening. Guests will arrive shortly. The lively discussion that ensues about the merits—and the failings—of women, known as the "Critique of Women on a Rainy Night," became quite well known.[3]
b. "Matsukaze" (chapter 18, The Wind in the Pines); Eight Views: Sails Returning from a Distant Shore.
Genji is seen standing on a sandspit watching a small boat being poled across the Inland Sea. The lady from Akashi is about to arrive in Kyoto.[4]
c. "Yūgiri Seikishō" (chapter 39, Evening Mist); Eight Views: Sunset over a Fishing Village.
Genji's son, Yūgiri, comes to visit his new love at Ono, outside the capital. Although the text states that the setting sun is so bright that Yūgiri shields his eyes with his fan, the sun is not represented in the painting and this gesture is not included. The deer on the hillocks at the left are an allusion to autumn.[5]
d. "Tamakazura" (chapter 22, The Jeweled Chaplet); Eight Views: Mountain Market, Clearing Mist.
Genji is shown in his apartments, thinking of Tamakazura, the daughter of his lost love Yūgao and his best friend, who is on her way to Kyoto from the provinces.[6]
e. "Akashi Banshō" (chapter 13); Eight Views: Evening Bell from a Mist-Shrouded Temple. Genji, exiled to Akashi and filled with sadness, is seen looking out toward the bell tower on the mountain across the water; it is one of the artist's most faithful depictions of the text.[7]
f "Otome Hatsukari" (chapter 21 , The Maiden); Eight Views: Wild Geese Descending on a Sandbank.
Yūgiri is shown gazing pensively at the sky. Visiting his grandmother, he attempts without success to see his sweetheart, Kumoinokari. "The wind rustled sadly through the bamboo thickets and from far away came the call of a wild goose."[8]
g. "Asagao Bosetsu" (chapter 20, The Morning Glory); Eight Views: River and Sky in Evening Snow.
In this scene, one of the most popular and frequently illustrated, Genji and his favorite lady, Murasaki, are seated indoors watching their servants build a snowman in the wintry garden.[9] Moroka apparently misunderstood the passage he was illustrating, for the servants are boisterous young boys, not the little maidservants described in the text. This scene displays the artist's Kano-school training to best advantage. Both the sumptuous tsuitate (small, freestanding screen) in Genji's room and the walls of the tokonoma (alcove) are decorated with ink landscape paintings executed in mokkotsu, the boneless technique. They appear to represent scenes from the Eight Views—perhaps, on the tsuitate, Evening Bell from a Mist-Shrouded Temple, suggested by the tall pagoda.
h. "Suma Shūgetsu" (chapter 12); Eight Views: Autumn Moon over Lake Dongting.
In exile in the area of Suma-Akashi, Genji looks out across Osaka Bay at the radiant harvest moon and is reminded of happier days in the capital.[10]
[Miyeko Murase 2000, Bridge of Dreams]
[1] Horikawa Takashi (1989, p. 101) believes that the theme was introduced in 1269 by the monk Daikyū Shōnen (Ch: Daxiu Zhengnian, 1211–1285).
[2] The life dates for this artist are given in the Koga bikō as 1672 to 1734. See Asaoka Okisada 1905 (1912 ed.), p. 79·
[3] Murasaki Shikibu 1976, pp. 21–38.
[4] Ibid., p. 322.
[5] Ibid., p. 695 .
[6] Ibid., p. 400.
[7] Ibid., p. 262.
[8] Ibid., p. 371.
[9] Ibid., p. 357.
[10] Ibid., p. 238.

Signature: Sahyoe no Kami Mototada

Marking: Seal: Mototada (or Kito?)

Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation , New York (until 2015; donated to MMA)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," November 7, 1975–January 4, 1976.

Seattle Art Museum. "Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," March 10–May 1, 1977.

Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," June 1–July 17, 1977.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Light of Asia: Buddha Sakyamuni in Asian Art," March 4, 1984–May 20, 1984.

Art Institute of Chicago. "Light of Asia: Buddha Sakyamuni in Asian Art," June 30, 1984–August 26, 1984.

New York. Brooklyn Museum. "Light of Asia: Buddha Sakyamuni in Asian Art," November 1, 1984–February 10, 1985.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Seasonal Pleasures in Japanese Art, Part II," May 1–September 8, 1996.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Japanese Art from The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," March 30–June 25, 2000.

Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu. "Enduring Legacy of Japanese Art: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," July 5, 2005–August 19, 2005.

Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum. "Enduring Legacy of Japanese Art: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," October 4, 2005–December 11, 2005.

Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. "Enduring Legacy of Japanese Art: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," January 24, 2006–March 5, 2006.

Miho Museum. "Enduring Legacy of Japanese Art: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," March 15, 2006–June 11, 2006.

Tsuji Nobuo 辻惟雄, Mary Griggs Burke, Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha 日本経済新聞社, and Gifu-ken Bijutsukan 岐阜県美術館. Nyūyōku Bāku korekushon-ten: Nihon no bi sanzennen no kagayaki ニューヨーク・バーク・コレクション展 : 日本の美三千年の輝き(Enduring legacy of Japanese art: The Mary Griggs Burke collection). Exh. cat. [Tokyo]: Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha, 2005, cat. no. 23.

Murase, Miyeko, Il Kim, Shi-yee Liu, Gratia Williams Nakahashi, Stephanie Wada, Soyoung Lee, and David Sensabaugh. Art Through a Lifetime: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection. Vol. 1, Japanese Paintings, Printed Works, Calligraphy. [New York]: Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, [2013], p. 66, cat. no. 90.