Joruri Monogatari

This handscroll (one of a pair) depicts the Tale of Jōruri (Jōruri monogatari), a love story between Princess Jōruri, a wealthy lord’s daughter, and Ushiwaka (later known as Minamoto no Yoshitsune), heir to the famous Genji clan and one of the most renowned warriors of medieval Japan. Iwasa Matabei was a Japanese painter whose workshop catered to the newly prosperous merchant class—which had an appetite for tales of the courtly past—by bridging the medieval and premodern depictions of classical Japanese narratives.