Isozaki (detail) Japan, Momoyama period, late 1500s two handscrolls, ink, color, and gold on paper, 12 x 288 inches (30.4 x 731.5 cm) Asian Art Department Acquisition Fund 1970.12 Detail Views

This painting is from a pair of long, horizontal scrolls that depict the medieval morality tale of the warrior Isozaki and his first wife, who murders the second wife he had taken while absent from his hometown. His first wife repents and becomes a nun, and Isozaki realizes that he is to blame for the misfortune and also turns to a life of religion. The detail here is from the first scroll and shows the first wife, disguised as a demon, attacking the second wife with a staff. The scrolls are of the Nara ehon (Nara picture book) genre, illustrated works of Japanese prose literature that were widely popular in medieval Japan.


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