"Ye-awase" — likely "E-awase" (Picture Contest), chapter 17 of The Tale of Genji — depicts a competitive display of illustrated albums at the Heian court in which Genji's faction ultimately prevails. The scene offers Kuniyoshi an opportunity to show courtly figures in formal Heian dress gathered around treasured artworks, a subject that implicitly links the world of the print itself with Japan's long tradition of pictorial connoisseurship. Numbered #17, it belongs to a systematic illustrated treatment of the Genji chapters.
#17 Ye-awase was created by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳).
#17 Ye-awase depicts figures, daily life, and interiors.
