Murasaki Shikibu Nikki Emaki
| Murasaki Shikibu Nikki Emaki | |
|---|---|
| ja: 紫式部日記絵巻 | |
First painting of the Fujita scroll showing two courtiers on the balcony of a building and men lighting torches in the garden outside the house | |
| Artist | Unknown |
| Completion date | 13th century |
| Medium |
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| Movement | Yamato-e |
| Subject | Murasaki Shikibu |
| Designation | National Treasure |
| Location |
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The Murasaki Shikibu Nikki Emaki (紫式部日記絵巻) is a mid-13th century emaki (Japanese picture scroll) inspired by the private diary (nikki) of Murasaki Shikibu, lady-in-waiting at the 10th–11th century Heian court and author of The Tale of Genji. This emaki belongs to the classical style of Japanese painting known as yamato-e, and revives the iconography of the Heian period.
Today there remain four paper scrolls of the emaki in varying condition, and stored in different collections: Hachisuka, Matsudaira, Hinohara scrolls (Tokyo), and Fujita scroll (Fujita Art Museum, Osaka). Of the extant scrolls, the first relates the celebrations on occasion of the birth of prince Atsunari (Atsuhira, later Emperor Go-Ichijō) in 1008 and the last those of the birth of Prince Atsunaga (later Emperor Go-Suzaku) in 1009. This difference in time indicates that the original emaki most likely consisted of more scrolls than exist today.