The wood-carver can fashion whatever he will. Yet his products are but toys of the moment, to be glanced at in jest, not fashioned according to any precept or law. When times change, the carver too will change his style and make new trifles to hit the fancy of the passing day. But there is another kind of artist, who sets more soberly about his work, striving to give real beauty to the things which men actually use and to give to them the shape which tradition has ordained. This maker of real things must not for a moment be confused with the maker of idle toys.

The album is considered the earliest of its kind and consists of 54 paintings by Tosa Mitsunobu and 54 Murasaki Shikibuets of calligraphy on shikishi paper in five colors written by master calligraphers. " Prince Genji recognizes in each of his lovers the inner beauty of the woman and the fragility of life which according to Keene makes him heroic. In her early to mid-thirties Murasaki Shikibu became a lady-in-waiting nyōbō at court most likely because of her reputation as an author.

It is uncertain when Murasaki Shikibu began to write The Tale of Genji but it was probably while Murasaki Shikibu was married or shortly after Murasaki Shikibu was widowed. Murasaki wrote The Diary of Lady Murasaki a volume of poetry and The Tale of Genji. Since the 13th century her works have been illustrated by Japanese artists and well-known ukiyo-e woodblock masters.