Also Hitomaru-zō 人丸像. An imaginary portrait of the Nara period poet Kakinomotono Hitomaro 柿本人麿, who is considered the greatest poet of the Man'yōshū 万葉集, the first major anthology of Japanese verse (last dated poem 759). A low-ranking member of the courts of Empress Jitō 持統 (r. 690-97) and Emperor Monmu 文武 (r. 697-707), by the mid-11th century he came to be regarded as the patron saint of poets, uta no hijiri 歌聖. By this time, however, most readers could no longer decipher the archaic writing system of the Man'yōshū. Many of the favorite Hitomaro poems were later found to be spurious attributions. In 1118 Fujiwara no Akisue 藤原顕季 (1055-1123) instituted a ceremony of homage to Hitomaro, Hitomaro eigu 人麿影供, modeled after similar ceremonies in honor of Confucius and his disciples sekiten 釈奠 held at the Imperial academy daigakuryō 大学寮. The focal point of the ceremony was a portrait painting based on one commissioned by Fujiwarano Kanefusa 藤原兼房 (1003-69) to specifications he received in a vision of the poet during a dream. In terms of iconography, however, Kanefusa's image seems based on earlier Chinese paintings of the famous Tang poet Bai Juyi (Jp: Haku Kyoi 白居易, 772-846; also known as *Haku Rakuten 白楽天). A depiction of a Chinese gentleman or poet in this tradition is preserved in The Landscape Screen Senzui byōbu 山水屏風 (late 12th century; formerly in Tōji 東寺, now in Kyoto National Museum). Although there are many images of Hitomaro-zō -- some depicting him leaning on an armrest kyōsoku 脇息, or those in the rocky grotto style iwayaryū 岩屋流, or in Tang period costume -- the oldest tradition has an aged Hitomaro with a long dignified beard, dressed in a soft, unstarched outer robe nōshi 直衣 with wide trousers gathered at the ankles sashinuki 指貫. This Heian period costume is given an air of antiquity by a floppy cap eboshi 烏帽子. In his left hand the poet holds some paper, in his right a brush, apparently in the midst of composing a poem. The earliest extant example of the orthodox image is contained in the Satake 佐竹 version of The Thirty-six Immortal Poets Handscroll Sanjūrokkasen emaki 三十六歌仙絵巻 (second quarter of the 13th century), now divided up and dispersed; a portion showing Hitomaro-zō can be found in Idemitsu 出光 Museum of Art.
