Journey with the emperor

A literary mezzotint likely drawn from The Tale of Genji, in which imperial processions and journeys figure repeatedly across the fifty-four chapters. The title could refer to the Suma exile, the imperial visit to Suzaku-in, or another scene in which Genji or his descendants travel in formal company. Saito's ten-volume mezzotint Genji series (1982–1991) was undertaken across nearly a decade, and individual sheets like this one extend that engagement with Heian-period narrative. Mezzotint's tonal range — capable of rendering moonlit nights, lacquered carriage details, and the textures of court robes within a single plate — proves suited to scenes that classical Japanese painters tended to render on folding screens. The print places Saito within a small group of postwar Japanese intaglio artists who treated European technique as a vehicle for native literary subject matter rather than as an importation of European themes.