National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

This is a giko story (a story about court nobles of the Heian period) that was established in the early Kamakura period. It is a story of government official Ujitada (an adjutant to a Japanese envoy to Tang Dynasty China) receiving a secret piece of koto music from the Tang Dynasty and his love for a beautiful Chinese woman. The author is said to be Fujiwara no Teika. This was possessed by the Hachisuka family and is the oldest existing transcription that contains almost the complete text of popular editions, such as the one in the Archives and the Mausolea Department, Imperial Household. It is a booklet in tetsuyoso binding, and the sukami (torinoko paper), indigo or purple kumogami (uchigumogami), paper with butterflies and seaside patterns painted in gold or silver, and dyed paper is used in an alternating manner. This is a valuable example that shows changes in gold/silver drawings during the Kamakura period and court calligraphy in a turbulent period.