Tenjin Traveling to China

Attributed to Tōsai Japanese
 Inscription traditionally attributed to Kisei Reigen Japanese

Not on view

The statesman-poet Sugawara no Michizane (845–903) is shown here in his deified form, Tenjin, on a visit to China to meet the influential Chan (Zen) monk Wuzhun Shifan (1178–1249). He wears a Daoist robe and a hood of semitransparent gauze, and a bag hangs from his shoulder. The inscribed poem by the Zen poet-monk Kisei Reigen reads:

径山密付破袈裟　丞相詩禅験作家
不是庭前無柏樹　如何袖裡有梅花
At Jingshan Monastery, the tattered robes
of a monk were esoterically transmitted.
Grand Chancellor [Michizane] composed a poem
on Chan to test the master [Wuzhun Shifan].
It is not that the front garden
has no cypress trees;
But why are there plum blossoms
tucked into his sleeve?

Tenjin Traveling to China, Attributed to Tōsai (Japanese, active late 15th century), Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, Japan

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Tenjin Traveling to China, Attributed to Tōsai (Japanese, active late 15th century), Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, Japan
Tenjin Traveling to China, Attributed to Tōsai (Japanese, active late 15th century), Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, Japan
Tenjin Traveling to China, Attributed to Tōsai (Japanese, active late 15th century), Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, Japan

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