Suzuki Harunobu 鈴木春信

In this print, a young woman sits at her writing desk, gazing pensively at the view beyond her verandah. She is Murasaki Shikibu (ca. 973–ca. 1025), author of the Tale of Genji, an epic novel about the life of courtiers. Murasaki studied Chinese classics and literature in her youth; this was unusual at the time, as these studies were reserved for men. As an aristocrat, Murasaki enjoyed the privilege of indulging in the arts. Centuries later, Suzuki Harunobu depicts her at Ishiyama temple, where she supposedly retreated after her husband’s death and was inspired to write the Tale of Genji.