The Sekiya and Miotsukushi Chapters of The Tale of Genji

The Miotsukushi screen shows Hikaru Genji's party on a pilgrimage to Sumiyoshi Shrine. At the center of the picture are the ox-drawn carriage and attendants, at the left the arched bridge and torii of Sumiyoshi, and on the sea at the upper right a boat carrying the Akashi Lady. But neither Genji in the carriage nor the Akashi Lady in the boat shows herself or himself.

The Sekiya screen shows the scene at Osaka Barrier where Genji's party and Utsusemi's party happen to meet. Both screens choose the scene in which Genji and the lady pass each other, telling the tale not through the figures but through the shapes of vehicles, mountains and a bridge. Large curves of green pines and white sandy beach are set on the gold ground, and the picture as a whole has a rhythm like a pattern.

Tawaraya Sotatsu was a painter active in Kyoto in the early Edo period, regarded as the founder of the Rinpa school that Ogata Korin and others later studied. This work bears the signature "Hokkyo Sotatsu" and is said to date from Kan'ei 8 (1631). It is one of Sotatsu's representative works and was designated a National Treasure in 1951.

The work was originally handed down at Daigoji Temple in Kyoto. Around Meiji 29 (1896) it moved to the house of Iwasaki Yanosuke of Mitsubishi, who laid the foundation of the Seikado. It is described as having been given in return for Yanosuke's donation to Daigoji.