Artworks

Kitano Tenjin engi emaki (Legends of the Kitano Shrine)

Artwork · traditionally attributed to Fujiwara no Nobuzane · c. 1219 · emakimono · Kitano Tenmangū

The illustrated engi of the Kitano shrine: the life of Sugawara no Michizane, his exile and death, the vengeance of his spirit and the founding of the shrine in his honour. In the scene of the first scroll the future Michizane appears as a child in the garden of his father, Sugawara no Koreyoshi (812–880), who sits in his hall and looks out onto it — the garden of a shinden-zukuri residence with its stream and miniature landscape of rocks and trees. 1 The last scrolls of the set are rokudō-e; the most exciting scene shows Michizane’s vengeful spirit as the red-skinned God of Thunder riding a mass of black clouds and wreaking havoc in the palace — in the tradition of Fūjin and Raijin. 2 Mason 2005, p. 108, fig. 133. ↩ Ebd., p. 233, fig. 270. ↩ Literatur Mason 2005: Penelope E. Mason, History of Japanese Art, 2nd, Pearson Education LTD. 2005.