The Maple Festival (Momiji no ga) from chapter 7 of The Tale of Genji

The Maple Festival, illustrating Chapter 7 (Momiji no ga) of Murasaki Shikibu's eleventh-century novel The Tale of Genji, is an early 1760s hosoban color woodblock print in the mizu-e technique. Held by the Art Institute of Chicago, the print belongs to the genre of mitate-e or parody-pictures, in which classical Heian-period subjects were reinterpreted as contemporary Edo scenes. In Chapter 7 of the Genji, the young Prince Genji and his rival To no Chujo perform the dance "Waves of the Blue Sea" beneath autumn maples for the retired emperor, in one of the novel's most famous set pieces. Shigemasa's print transposes this courtly moment into an Edo-period idiom, using the soft, watery palette of mizu-e to evoke the autumnal mood. The Genji was an inexhaustible source for ukiyo-e parody throughout the eighteenth century; treating its chapters as a series of contemporary scenes allowed print designers and their publishers to flatter educated viewers who could recognize the classical reference while supplying the popular visual interest of fashion and figure that drove the market. Shigemasa's literary literacy made him a natural designer for these subjects. The hosoban format and mizu-e technique date the work to the same productive moment as the early actor and bijin prints in his Art Institute holdings.