A pictorial subject taken from "Otome" ("The Maiden"), Chapter 21 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of Genji). *Yūgiri 夕霧, Genji's son by *Aoi 葵, has his coming of age ceremony at the house of his maternal grandmother Ōmiya 大宮, where he has been brought up since the death of his mother. After the ceremony he goes to be educated at Genji's Nijō 二条 mansion. During this time, Genji's charge, Saigū 斎宮, the former high priestess of Ise Jingū 伊勢神宮, is chosen as empress (see *e-awase 絵合), and becomes known as Empress Akikonomu, Akikonomu Chūgū 秋好中宮. Tō no Chūjō 頭中将, Genji's life-long friend and rival at court, has a daughter, Kumoi no Kari 雲井雁, who from early childhood has been entrusted to Ōmiya, and she was thus a childhood playmate of Yūgiri. The two have fallen in love but since Tō no Chūjō hopes to present Kumoi no Kari at court, he takes her back to his own mansion. At Genji's Nijō residence Yūgiri meanwhile is attracted to the daughter of Koremitsu 惟光, Genji's trusted retainer, who has been chosen for the Gosechi 五節 annual court harvest dances and is practicing there. Later, constructs a new mansion at Rokujō 六条, with a garden dedicated to each of the four seasons, and presented to each of his ladies: the autumn garden to Akikonomu (aki konomu means to like autumn); the spring garden to Murasaki (see *Wakamurasaki 若紫); the summer garden to the Lady of the Orange Blossoms *Hanachirusato 花散里; and the winter garden to the Akashi Lady (see *Akashi 明石). Each woman was thought to favor the season of the garden with which they were associated.
Scenes chosen for illustration include Yūgiri tugging at the sleeve of the Gosechi dancer, and Empress Akikonomu sending a young girl with autumn flowers and leaves arranged on the lid of a box to Murasaki's apartments.
