Hanachirusato and Tamakazura

A second composition treating the same Tale of Genji subject as the companion print: Hanachirusato, the consort of Genji introduced in the eleventh chapter of Murasaki Shikibu's novel, paired with Tamakazura, Yugao's daughter raised within Genji's household. Two prints sharing a title in the catalogue typically indicate either successive states of a single design—perhaps differing in palette, paper, or publisher—or distinct compositions within a planned Genji-e series treating the same chapter from a different vantage. Genji-e prints commonly draw on the iconographic conventions established by Edo-period ukiyo-e illustrators of the novel, including the cutaway roof view, ceremonial posture, and elaborate textile patterning rendered through layered nishiki-e color blocks. Without an inscribed series title or publisher mark transcribed in the dealer record, the relationship between the two versions remains uncertain. A literary subject of this kind sits outside the landscape and nature work most often associated with Shusui's name and may indicate engagement with the broader twentieth-century revival of classical literary themes in print.