'Illustrations from the Tale of Genji'. Tosa Mitsunobu.
An example of Tosa painting. [Tosa artists were a group of elite artists working for the Emperor and the court.]
This painting actually belongs to an album, that is a re-telling of the Heian-period famous story 'The Tale of Genji' (Genji Monogatari) written by lady Murasaki Shikibu. There is fifty-four paintings in this album, one for each chapter. The calligraphy on the right represents a part of the story.
