EN
Eawase (‘picture contest’) in Genji Monogatari from the viewpoint of the ‘female-’ and ‘male-pictures’ A scene in Murasaki Shikibu’s Genji Monogatari in which two teams were contesting for the title of the best picture is the first account on eawase in Japanese literature. The said competition, planned as an occasional informal entertainment, was organized again as a formal event in the presence of the Emperor. It is the pictures that played a crucial role determining the status of eawase. In the present article, the author discusses the meaning of contested pictures and, focusing on the so-called ‘female-’ and ‘male-pictures’, attempts to explain their relations with the perception of the formal-informal.