Through the Tale of Genji scroll, we are able to take a journey
into the refined world of the Heian aristocracy, the hereditary class which
ruled Japan from the ninth through the twelfth centuries. Ensconced in
its capital at Kyoto, this elite group of a few hundred families was already
declining politically when the Genji scroll was painted. But together
with the famous novel of a century earlier which it illustrates, the Tale
of Genji scroll provides us with an intimate glimpse into the lives
and values of the Heian court.