Yoshitoshi - Sugawara no Michizane

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Sugawara no Michizane 菅原道真 Composes an Early Poem Beneath a Plum Tree. From the series: One Hundred Aspects of the Moon.

Sugawara no Michizane was a scholar, poet, and politician of the Heian period of Japan. He is regarded as an excellent poet, particularly in waka and kanshi poetry, and is today revered in Shinto as the god of learning, Tenman-Tenjin. Here we see the young Michizane as a boy of eleven, composing the following poem:

“The moon glimmers like bright snow/ and plum blossoms appear like reflected stars/ ah! the golden mirror of the moon passes overhead/as fragrance from the jade chamber fills the garden.”

(Translation by John Stevenson). 

Condition: Print color and overall condition is very good. Print is backed with paper.

Publisher: Akiyama Buemon

Date: 1889

Size: Oban tate-e 13 7/8 by 9 1/2 in., 35.2 by 24.1 cm

Genre: Ukiyo-e

Medium: Original woodblock print