Japanese Art
Feature Module: Illustrated Legends of Kitano Shrine and Illustrated Sutra of The Miracles of Kannon
Illustrated Legends of the Kitano Shrine (Kitano Tenjin Engi), Kamakura period (1185–1333), 13th century
Unidentified artist
Japan
Handscroll; ink and color on paper; 11 3/4 in. x 28 ft. 3 3/4 in. (29.8 x 863 cm)
Fletcher Fund, 1925 (25.224a–e)The Illustrated Legends of Kitano Shrine and The Illustrated Sutra of The Miracles of Kannon offer detailed visual explorations of emaki, or emakimono, from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. These narrative picture scrolls are a distinctly Japanese art form that flourished in the Heian and Kamakura periods (794 - 1185 and 1185 - 1333 respectively). The Illustrated Legends of Kitano Shrine is the Metropolitan Museum’s version of the Kitano Tenjin Engi, painted during the Kamakura period in the second half of the thirteenth century. It depicts the origin of the Kitano Shrine of the Tenjin cult, one of the most important in the Shinto religion. The Illustrated Sutra of The Miracles of Kannon is a Kamakura period scroll, which illustrates episodes taken from the "Universal Gate" chapter (25) of the Lotus Sutra. According to the calligrapher Sugawara-no-Mitsushige's inscription, this scroll was made in the first year of the Shoka era (1257) and was modeled after a Chinese Song-dynasty printed book dated 1208.
(This text was adapted from Grove Art Online and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Timeline of Art History: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/07/eaj/ho_25.224.htm ).
Access to the scroll is intended for classroom presentation, or student study focusing on each panel as an individual work of art. It is part of our goal to learn about issues of design and content from our partners and audiences in the academic and museum worlds. After a period of vigorous development and production for Web-based programs during the past several years, many educators, curators and foundation officers are taking time to evaluate the impact of new media on the practice of education at all stages of the process, in and out of the classroom. For this reason, we look forward to hearing from you on any aspect of our work.
Illustrated Legends of the Kitano Shrine (Kitano Tenjin Engi), Part I, Kamakura Period, (1185-1333), 13th century
handscroll; ink and color on paper, 11 3/4 in. x 28 ft. 3 3/4 in., (29.8 x 863 cm), Fletcher Fund, 1925 (25-224a)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Illustrated Legends of the Kitano Shrine (Kitano Tenjin Engi), Part II, Kamakura Period, (1185-1333), 13th century
handscroll; ink and color on paper, 11 3/4 in. x 28 ft. 3 3/4 in., (29.8 x 863 cm), Fletcher Fund, 1925 (25-224b)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Illustrated Legends of the Kitano Shrine (Kitano Tenjin Engi), Part III, Kamakura Period, (1185-1333), 13th century
handscroll; ink and color on paper, 11 3/4 in. x 28 ft. 3 3/4 in., (29.8 x 863 cm), Fletcher Fund, 1925 (25-224c)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Illustrated Legends of the Kitano Shrine (Kitano Tenjin Engi), Part IV, Kamakura Period, (1185-1333), 13th century
handscroll; ink and color on paper, 11 3/4 in. x 28 ft. 3 3/4 in., (29.8 x 863 cm), Fletcher Fund, 1925 (25-224d)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Illustrated Legends of the Kitano Shrine (Kitano Tenjin Engi), Part V, Kamakura Period, (1185-1333), 13th century
handscroll; ink and color on paper, 11 3/4 in. x 28 ft. 3 3/4 in., (29.8 x 863 cm), Fletcher Fund, 1925 (25-224e)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Illustrated Sutra of The Miracles of Kannon, Kamakura period (1185–1333), dated 1257, Unidentified artist, Japan
Handscroll; ink, color, and gold on paper; 9 7/16 in. x 30 ft. 8 1/16 in. (23.9 x 934.9 cm), Purchase, Louisa Eldridge McBurney Gift, 1953 (53.7.3)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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