等歳筆　渡唐天神|Tenjin Traveling to China

Tōsai

late 15th century · Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk · Asian Art

The statesman-poet Sugawara no Michizane (845–903) is shown here in his deified form, Tenjin, on a visit to China to meet the influential Chan (Zen) monk Wuzhun Shifan (1178–1249). He wears a Daoist robe and a hood of semitransparent gauze, and a bag hangs from his shoulder. The inscribed poem by the Zen poet-monk Kisei Reigen reads: 径山密付破袈裟 丞相詩禅験作家 不是庭前無柏樹 如何袖裡有梅花 At Jingshan Monastery, the tattered robes of a monk were esoterically transmitted. Grand Chancellor [Michizane] composed a poem on Chan to test the master [Wuzhun Shifan]. It is not that the front garden has no cypress trees; But why are there plum blossoms tucked into his sleeve?

Artist

Tōsai

Date

late 15th century

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection, Gift of Mary and Cheney Cowles, 2019