An Incident from the Tales of Ise (Ise Monogatari)

An Incident from the Tales of Ise, dated to 1780 in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, draws on one of the most enduring works of Japanese classical literature. The Ise monogatari, a tenth-century compilation of poetic episodes built around the persona of Ariwara no Narihira, was reread, illustrated, and re-illustrated throughout the medieval and early modern periods, becoming a touchstone of refined cultural identity. By choosing a scene from this anthology, Kitao Shigemasa places himself within a long lineage of designers and painters who used Ise themes to demonstrate erudition, sensitivity, and visual ingenuity. The Metropolitan Museum of Art preserves the work within its holdings of Edo ukiyo-e, where it complements other classical literary subjects across the collection. Shigemasa's drawing combines the conventions of mitate, in which classical scenes are reimagined in contemporary dress and setting, with a careful eye for the costumes, gestures, and emotional registers that audiences expected from Ise illustrations. As founder of the Kitao school, he was particularly well placed to negotiate between elite literary tradition and the popular print market, since both sides of his work required a confident handling of figure, pattern, and narrative cue. The print confirms that late eighteenth-century Edo ukiyo-e was not isolated from the classical canon but in active dialogue with it, providing relatively affordable visual access to scenes that had previously circulated mainly in expensive painted scrolls and screens. Within Shigemasa's career, the work joins his other classical subjects to demonstrate the breadth of his cultural engagement and the Kitao school's role in connecting old and new traditions.