The Story of Sugawara no Michizane (Kitano Tenjin Emaki Dankan) (14th century): Artwork and History

The Story of Sugawara no Michizane (Kitano Tenjin Emaki Dankan) (14th century) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Unknown Artist Japanese, active in 14th century.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

Sugawara no Michizane (845–903) was a minister at the emperor’s court who refused to travel to China as an ambassador—and so he was banished to Kyūshū, where he perished. According to legend, his spirit began exacting revenge for his death. He was only placated when he was honored as the deity Tenjin and became the god of learning. This fragment of a narrative handscroll joins a text and illustration from different parts of the legend. The drawing probably shows an early scene, in which a household servant laments Michizane’s imminent banishment. The text describes a later part of the story, after he has become revered as Tenjin.

Object facts

• Title: The Story of Sugawara no Michizane (Kitano Tenjin Emaki Dankan)
• Date: 14th century
• Artist attribution: Unknown Artist Japanese, active in 14th century
• Place of origin: Japan
• Medium: Handscroll; ink on paper
• Dimensions: L: 28 3/4" H: 10 7/8"
• Type: Book
• Department: Arts of Asia
• Reference number: 1957.531

Collection credit

Gift of Robert Allerton

View the original

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.