Tenjin Travelling to China

Sugawara no Michizane (845–903), the statesman, poet, and scholar who died in de facto political exile brought about by court politics, was later venerated as a deity of agriculture, scholarship, and calligraphy at Kitano Tenmangū Shrine in Kyoto, and subsidiary shrines throughout the county. His deification arose from efforts to pacify his unsettled spirit, which was believed to have caused calamities at the court. As Zen Buddhism gained prominence during the medieval period, the tale of the deified Michizane traveling to China to study under the Chan master Wuzhun Shifan (1178–1249) became widely celebrated in both literature and painting. He is often portrayed in Daoist robes, holding a branch of the plum blossoms he cherished.

Here Ike no Taiga draws the outline of his robe with calligraphic economy, using a bold brush and a minimal number of strokes. Above the imaginary portrait of Michizane, the noted calligrapher Kō Fuyō transcribed a poem originally composed by the medieval Zen monk Ryōan Keigo (1425–1514).

This work is particularly important as it features both a painting by Taiga and an inscription by his close confidant Kō Fuyō—a bunjin painter, calligraphy, and noted seal carver—making it a rare example of collaboration between two figures who were deeply immersed in and exemplified the Sinophilia of Kyoto during this period. The box inscription, which is itself an excellent example of calligraphy, narrates the context of this collaboration and was brushed by Aoki Shukuya, the first keeper of the Taigadō Hall.