NARA: May 24: Back in Kyoto it was a rainy day, so we decided to explore museums and temples. Our first stop was the costume museum on the top floor of an elegant fabric dealer. They had recreated the costumes Genji gave his various wives and lovers in one chapter of Lady Murasaki’s Genji Monogatari (Tale of Genji). The figures, looking rather interchangeable, were placed in a scale model of Genji’s palace as it’s described in the novel. This scene depicts Genji at work, surrounded by typical furnishings of the period. May 24, 1998