Origins of Kitano Tenjin (Color on Paper; eight fragmentary scenes, the Koan manuscript)

Scenes from the Koan Version of the Kitano Tenjin Scrolls

The Origins of Kitano Tenjin (Color on Paper; eight fragmentary scenes, the Koan manuscript) (紙本著色北野天神縁起〈（断簡八図）／（弘安本）〉) is eight fragmentary scenes from the Kamakura-period illustrated scrolls of the Origins of Kitano Tenjin, held by the Tokyo National Museum, which in 1956 were designated an Important Cultural Property.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records two scrolls owned by the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage.

The Tokyo National Museum identifies them as part of the so-called Koan version of the scrolls.

The Scrolls

According to the Tokyo National Museum, the scrolls tell the founding of Kitano Tenmangu, which enshrines as Tenjin the spirit of Sugawara no Michizane (845 to 903), who died in exile after being slandered, together with tales of his miracles. It is the most widely copied of all shrine and temple origin scrolls, and many versions survive.

These belong to the version called the Koan scrolls; scenes separated from the three scrolls at Kitano Tenmangu are now divided among the Tokyo National Museum, the Daitokyu Memorial Library, the Seattle Art Museum and other collections.

What to Look For

The museum explains that the name comes from the date of 1278 at the end of the text of the lower scroll at Kitano Tenmangu. Because Tenjin's original Buddhist form is the Eleven-Headed Kannon, the scrolls are usually composed in thirty-three sections after the Kannon's thirty-three manifestations, but much of this version has been scattered and its original arrangement greatly changed.

The museum notes that the surviving scenes, with calm compositions and well-proportioned figures, show a fresh vision of the Tenjin story.

Visiting the Origins of Kitano Tenjin (Color on Paper; eight fragmentary scenes, the Koan manuscript)

The scrolls are held by the Tokyo National Museum and are not always on display; check the museum's schedule.