Keywords
Art History
Painting
Document
A pictorial subject matter based on "Suetsumuhana" ("Safflower"), Chapter 6 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of Genji), and the name of that chapter's female protagonist, the penurious but proud daughter of Prince Hitachi 常陸. Genji visits her dilapidated mansion on a spring night.
Illustrations of this chapter include Genji and his friend, Tō no Chūjo 頭中将, listening from behind a fence to the Safflower Lady playing the koto 琴 (a scene not actually described in the text). Another is Genji's discovery, on a winter's day, of the princess whose nose was red with cold, and which he therefore likens to a safflower.
