Writing box with landscape

The interior of this box’s lid depicts a scene from The Tale of Genji (Chapter 24). Two Chinese boats, one with a dragon-headed prow and the other (behind it) with a phoenix-headed prow, float in the pond. These boats were made for Genji and his court ladies so they could view the moss growing on the island. The tops of large drums can be seen on the phoenix boat, suggesting that music was provided for the day’s outing. An old pine tree with intertwined blossoming wisteria vines (above the boats) grows on the rocky island. This might seem an ordinary decorative theme; however, in a literary setting, the combination alludes to a romantic twining of female (wisteria) and male (pine) and is used repeatedly in love stories from the Heian period (794–1185) on.

The exterior of the lid is decorated with several auspicious symbols, many conveying wishes of longevity: two swimming turtles, pine trees, wisteria, plum, and bamboos growing from rocks, with three cranes on the ground and two in flight.