Artist: Konoe Nobumoto, Konoe Nobusuke, Sanmyakuin
Date: 1609
Size: 108 x 48 cm
Technique: Paper
Sweeps of ink form a figure in Chinese robes and hat. The figure is a “word-painting” (moji-e); the man’s hat is the character for “heaven” (ten 天), and his robe that for “deity” (shin or jin 神). One of many versions of a composition associated with the courtier, Zen practitioner, and master calligrapher Konoe Nobutada, the work depicts the poet and scholar Sugawara no Michizane (845–903), who is revered as Tenjin, the Shinto deity of poetry and learning.The Zen monk Enni Ben’en (1202–1280) wrote that Tenjin came to him in a dream and said that he wished to study Zen. Enni told him to go to his old teacher in China, whereupon Tenjin miraculously crossed the sea and studied with the master. The poem, from the kagura play Tenjin, makes reference to legends of Michizane’s troubled spirit and his longing while in exile for the plum blossoms near his home:Ume araba iyashiki shizu ga fuseya ni mo waga tachi yoran akuma shirizokeEven at this humble hut,if the plum is in bloomthe evil spiritsthat try to haunt mewill be kept at bay.—Trans. John T. Carpenter
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