Panel Summaries
Exhibit no. 8:
Illustrated Legends of Tenmangū (Enjuōin version)
Scroll 1

1
62
7

1

A mysterious child appears in thenobleman Sugawara no Koreyoshi’s
home in Kyoto, and is adopted as hisson, Sugawara no Michizane (Tenjin).

2

Michizane writes his first poem at age
11.

3

At the tender age of 18, Michizane isadmitted to a school for aspiring
government officials.

4

At around 21–22, Michizane composes
the prologue for the monk Ennin’s
Kenyō daikairon (Treatise clarifying
and extolling the Mahayana precepts).

5At 26, Michizane participates in anarchery game held in the scholar andpoet Miyako no Yoshika’s mansion,
where he hits the target dead-centerwith every arrow, proving his prowess
in both the literary and military arts.

38459

Scroll 2

67

6

At 34, Michizane receives an invitationby the regent (kanpaku) Fujiwara noMototsune to pen the prologue tothe history text Nihon Montoku Tennō
jitsuroku (The true history of Emperor
Montoku of Japan).

7

While on a hunting trip with Emperor
Uda, Michizane wonders if animals
had previously wronged humankind,
thereby questioning the basis onwhich they are hunted by people. He
then petitions for the emperor tospare them.

8At 42, Michizane is appointed as thegovernor of Sanuki Province, andserves his term there well.

9At 46, Michizane returns to the capitalof Kyoto after his four-year term at
Sanuki.

89

Scroll 3
the Buddhist lecture held at
10 During
Kisshōin Temple for Michizane’s 50thbirthday, an old man appears out of
nowhere and presents him a Buddhist
sutra alongside some gold. Theseturn out to be presents from EmperorUda.

1011At 51, Michizane accomplishes the11 feat of writing ten poems in two hours

at the request of Crown Prince
Atsuhito (later Emperor Daigo); thenext year, he composes twenty poems
in four hours.

12At 54, Michizane accompanies Emperor

13

12 Uda, now retired, to visit theTamukeyama Hachimangū Shrine inNara, where he also composes a poem.
At 53, he becomes the chief counselor

14

13 of state (dainagon).
14

At 55, he becomes the minister of theright (udaijin).

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15

exposes Miyako no Yoshika
15 Michizanefor presenting a whole poem as hisown. Yoshika had only composed thefirst half of the poem, and the second
half had actually been composed bythe demon at the Rajōmon Gate, justas he was passing through to get tothe palace. Michizane sees throughYoshika’s ruse, and brings the truth tolight.

16
17

The minister of the left (sadaijin),

16 Fujiwara no Tokihira, and the chiefcounselor, Tomo no Yoshio (also known
as Ban Dainagon), mock Michizane forhis short stature. Michizane respondsby punching them both in the face.

18

19

17

Jealous of Michizane’s promotion, afew courtiers including Tokihira andFujiwara no Sugane plot against himin secret.

18

Tokihira performs various rituals in an
attempt to curse Michizane to death.

19

Unrest ripples through the streets ofKyoto as rumors of Michizane’s treason
spread.

Scroll 5

20
21
22

accuses Michizane of treason
20 Tokihira
before Emperor Daigo.

21 At 57, Michizane is exiled from Kyoto.
22

Retired emperor Uda tries to visit
Emperor Daigo to convince him torethink his decision to exile Michizane,
but is thwarted by Sugane.
Michizane bids farewell to the plum

23 and cherry trees in his Kyoto mansion.
Michizane leaves Kyoto for Dazaifu,

24 riding an oxcart.
23

24

Scroll 6
sails across the Setouchi
25 Michizane
Sea on his way to Dazaifu.

25

26

26
27
27

28
29

Michizane reaches the post town of
Akashi in Harima Province (presentday Hyōgo Prefecture). The chief ofthe town is shocked at how different
he looks from before, but treats him
as a valued guest nevertheless.
Michizane and his entourage reach
Hakata in Chikuzen Province (presentday Fukuoka Prefecture). Michizane
disembarks for a rest, but without amat to sit on, he can only coil mooringlines from his ship into a makeshift
mat.

28

On his way to Dazaifu, Michizane
catches his own haggard appearance
reflected in the river and laments over
how he looks like a corpse.

29

Michizane and his entourage reach
Dazaifu and are seeking shelter at ahousehold. The head of the housetries to turn them away, but his wife
quickly invites them in and serves
them kōji rice.

Scroll 7
writes poems in Dazaifu
30 Michizane
while thinking of Kyoto.

30

31

31

32

34

32

While crossing a swamp, Michizane
encounters a giant catfish that has
been making life difficult for othertravelers. Since it is also blocking hisway, he cuts it in half, and the halves
turn to stone.

33

Michizane pleads his innocence before
the heavens at the top of Mt. Tenpai
near Dazaifu, and, when it is accepted,
becomes Tenma Daijizai Tenjin.

34

At 59, Michizane passes away with his
pleas of innocence unheard by thosein power.

35

The ox pulling the cart carrying
Michizane’s remains stops in themiddle of the road and refuses tomove, so he is buried at that spot.

3335

In order to plead his innocence,
Michizane stands under the waterfall
at the foot of Mt. Tenpai for fifty days
straight. On his way home, he meetsan old man using a rock to file a hatchet
into a needle. At this, Michizane
realizes that he is lacking in conviction,and thus returns to the waterfall.

Scroll 836

spirit appears before Son’i,
36 Michizane’s
an abbot of the Tendai Sect, andattempts to lead him astray from his
Buddhist practices. When Son’i refuses
to succumb, Michizane spits apomegranate from his mouth. Thepomegranate spontaneously combusts.

37
38
39
40

37

On his way to visit the palace, Son’ipasses by the Kamogawa River. Theriver, which has been flooded for awhile now, parts for him.

38

Michizane’s vengeful spirit manifests
as a god of storms and brings lightning
down on the Seiryōden, where theemperor resides. Tokihira brandishesa sword to face off with him.
Tokihira lays in bed, sick. Those around39 him pray for his recovery, but are

thwarted by the Azure Dragon of theEast, and Tokihira soon passes away.

41

40

Workers build a shrineMichizane’s grave in Dazaifu.

above

Minamoto no Kintada, a nobleman

41 poet, dies a sudden death and revives

three days later to convey Michizane’s
pleas of innocence from theunderworld to Emperor Daigo.

Scroll 9
god causes lightning to strike
42 Athestorm
Seiryōden again, killing a fewpeople.

42

43
44
45

43

Emperor Daigo abdicates to becomea Buddhist priest, and dies soon after.

44

The palace grounds go up in flames
for the third time in seven years.
During the process of rebuilding it,workers discover Michizane’s poem
chewed into the wood by insects.

45

Emperor Suzaku sends a representative
to Anrakuji Temple (present-day Dazaifu
Tenmangū Shrine) to bestow upon thelate Michizane the posthumous rank ofminister of the left, then grand councilor(dajō-daijin) the following year.

Scroll 10Mt. Kinpu in Nara, the monk
46 On
Nichizō is going Buddhist austerities

46

when he dies a sudden death. He
passes through the Six Realms ofRebirth before being revived thirteendays later. This scene depicts him
meeting Michizane, who has become
the deity Daijōitokuten.
Nichizō as he passes through Hell,

47 one of the Six Realms.

47Scroll 11of having feelings for a
48 Suspectedwoman, the monk Ninshun prays atthe Kitano Tenmangū Shrine. As herecites a poem, the woman whospread the rumor confesses her lie ina frenzy, proving Ninshun’s innocence.

48

49

Michizane appears in the Zen monk

49 Enni’s dreams, informing him that hewishes to learn the ways of Zen. Enni
refers him to the Chinese monk
Wuzhun Shifan, and Michizane travels
to China, studies Chan (Zen), andreturns, all in the span of a night.

505051

Nawa Akitada, the lord of Yatsushiro
district in Higo Province (present-day
Kumamoto Prefecture), loses a battle
and heads to the capital in Kyoto to
make an appeal, but misplaces his
document of evidence. He thus visits
Anrakuji and offers prayers, after
which
fishermen
discoverhis
document in the belly of a fish.
A jinkōshiki (god-procession ritual) for

51 Tenjin in progress. This annual ritualat the Dazaifu Tenmangū was initiatedby the scholar Ōe no Masafusa.

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no Sukemasa, a descendant
52 Sugawaraof Michizane, expands Anrakuji.
Accusedofstealing

somebody’s

53 clothes, a woman prays at the Kitano

Tenmangū. Just then, the true culprit,
a woman named Shikishima, appears
with the stolen clothes, clearing hername.
Ōe no Masafusa organizes the first54 jinkōshiki at Anrakuji.

When the Mongols invaded Japan,

55 the monks of Anrakuji prayed for the55

invaders to leave by reciting sections
from the Great Perfection of Wisdom
Sutra and composing collaborative
poems (renga).