Cleveland Museum of Art

Portrait of Sugawara Michizane

Yōgetsu

Date

late 1400s–early 1500s

Medium

hanging scroll; ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan, Muromachi period (1392–1573)

Department

Japanese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Sugawara Michizane (845–903) was a Kyoto aristocrat who died in exile in Dazaifu in Japan’s southern island of Kyushu, having been slandered at court. His vengeful spirit was later pacified by the construction of shrines in his name. His image was incorporated into the repertoire of Zen Buddhist figure painting, which included bodhisattvas, Daoist immortals, and other enlightened beings. Eminent monk Sakugen Shūryō (1501–1579) inscribed this work, which was painted by monk-painter Yōgetsu of Kyushu, who traveled east to study either in Kyoto or Kamakura. The Chinese-style poem is an ode to Michizane in his guise as the deity Tenjin.

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