Nature
In Genji and more broadly in Heian elite culture, color selection displayed one’s aesthetic sensibility and refined sensitivity to the beauties of nature. Within the court, one’s poetry, musical performance, and tasteful combination of dyed garments were responses to the natural beauty of the shifting seasons or of the waning and waxing moon. Such sensitivities play a dominant role in the aesthetics of The Tale of Genji as well as the various objects displayed in this exhibition. For example, plants and flowers, such as the irises depicted in this ivory okimono and in this print by the Kano-trained artist Hokusai (1760–1849), are deployed frequently in the Tale for their poetic allusions. In Osanobu’s screen we can study the delicacy of springtime dress in the figures of Murasaki and her attendants. Similar intricately layered robes can be seen in the display of Hinamatsuri dolls, whose traditional dress is still worn today for the springtime Girl’s Day Festival.