Ogurayama 小倉山

Keywords
Art History
Painting

A hill in the *Sagano 嵯峨野 area, northwest of Kyoto, facing the low mountains of Arashiyama 嵐山. Famous since the Heian period for its colorful autumn foliage, it is associated with other autumn motifs such as deer and wild geese, and is frequently mentioned in classical literature. It also refers to the place where the aristocratic scholar Fujiwara no Teika 藤原定家 (1162-1241) had his villa, Shiguretei 時雨亭, where he compiled the poetry anthology *Hyakunin isshu 百人一首 (also called Ogura Hyakunin isshu 小倉百人一首) which itself has often been illustrated with imaginary portraits of the hundred poets. Teika is often portrayed, according to the story dramatized in *Noh 能 and *kabuki 歌舞伎, in his lonely villa at Ogurayama being visited by the poetess Shokushi Naishinnō 式子内親王 (?-1201), disguised in a young man's clothes, who walks towards the villa shielded from the shigure 時雨 or autumn shower by a large umbrella held by an attendant.