The Tale of Genji

Duration: 58

Year Published: 1993

Creator: Video Champ

Format: 16mm

Color: Color

Description: Examines the existing 19 paintings of illustrated handscroll of the "Tale of Genji," which dates from early 12th century Japan. Discusses the importance of the Tale of Genji, written in the Heian period of the 11th century by Murasaki Shikibu, a Japanese woman about whom little is known. Recounts the story chapter by chapter in relation to the hand scroll. Accentuates the mastery of the illustrated hand scroll; calligraphy; composition; painting, papermaking, and preservation techniques; and the ways in which the paintings focus on moments of psychological intensity, thus adding to the text. Includes comments by Terukazu Akiyama, professor emeritus of the University of Tokyo, and Yoshinobu Tokugawa, director of the Tokugawa Art Museum in Nagoya, Japan.