Fifty-four Scenes from the Tale of Genji right of a pair, late 17th century, Attributed to Tosa Mitsuoki, Japanese, 1617 - 1691, 43 3/4 × 143 3/4 in. (111.13 × 365.13 cm) (image), Twenty-seven shikishi of painting (ink and color on paper) and twenty-seven shikishi of text (ink on paper), pasted on gilded paper, Japan, 17th century, Pictures and short passages of text brushed on 108 small squares of paper arranged on the surface of these screens represent the entirety of The Tale of Genji, with a text-image pairing for each of the Tales 54 chapters. Reading the passages of classical Japanese written in elegant calligraphy or identifying a specific scene from the Tale and recalling the characters and dramas involved could provide hours of fun for the screens owners and guests. But the screens also could have served simply as a luxurious backdrop for some gathering.