Words and Images in Picture Scrolls and Illustrated Books

Abstract

Picture scrolls and illustrated books are a mixture of verbal and visual representations. Pictures and illustrations usually correspond with stories, but sometimes not. In some stories images are far more dominant than words, but in others the case is quite opposite. The editions of Saigyō-monogatari offer several patterns of such verbal and visual combinations. For example, some editions feature plenty of brightly colored images with a few brief passages. But there are few or no illustrations in other editions where visual images are often translated into words.