Scenes and Calligraphic Excerpts from The Tale of Genji
Tosa School Japanese
Inscriptions by Ono no Ozū (Ono no Tsū) Japanese
The work of Ono no Ozū, one of the most prominent women calligraphers of premodern Japan, graces decorated shikishi (poetry cards) in this pair of albums featuring scenes from The Tale of Genji by an unknown Tosa-school painter. The paintings were formerly attributed to Tosa Mitsuyoshi (1539–1613), associated with a colorful style and detailed brushwork. In the two chapters from Genji presented here, Ozū transformed canonical poems into novel calligraphic compositions.
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