TANAKA, Shigekazu.

£750 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Nihon meiga kagami: Fujiwara jidai no bu ("A Model of Famous Japanese Art: The Fujiwara Period"). First edition of this 19th-century woodblock facsimile of the 12th-century manuscript Shigisan engi emaki ("The Legend of Mount Shigi"). The original is a National Treasure held in the Nara National Museum and tells the story of the monk Myoren, as he establishes Chogosonshi-ji temple, miraculously heals the emperor, and reunites with his long-lost sister.Shigisan engi emaki is a three-volume manuscript produced in the late Heian period, collecting legends related to the life and miracles of Myoren, who lived on Mount Shigi in the 9th century. It is notable as the earliest surviving illustrated scroll to focus primarily on the lives of common people. The first story is particularly famous, where the monk punishes a farmer for not giving him rice by causing his granary to fly away into the air, which the locals then give chase to.This woodblock facsimile was part of a series of eight, beginning with this scroll from the Heian period and continuing through other famous pieces of art and literature from the Kamakura and Tokugawa periods.

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