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Isawa Matabei

Joruri Monogatari

17th century
Handscroll; ink, colors, and gold leaf on paper

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

This handscroll (one of a pair) depicts the Tale of Jōruri (Jōruri monogatari), a story about the 12th-century romance 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. The scene here shows a teenage Ushiwaka with his allies, setting out to restore his family’s place in power. 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.

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