National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

This painting was originally part of the Satake version of Sanjūrokkasen emaki, (Paintings of Thirty-Six Great Poets). That version had been owned by the Satake family in Akita Prefecture in the form of two volumes of scrolls but was divided into separate pieces under Mosuda Donnou's leadership (prominent businessman and teamster at the time) in the Taisho period because it was too expensive to be owned by a single person or institution, the episode for which the emaki is widely known in Japan. Originally, there were thirty-seven paintings in the emaki: there was this painting of Sumiyoshi Myoujin (the deity of Sumiyoshi Grand Shrine) added to those of the thirty-six great actual poets with the descriptions of them and their poems. It is rare that a painting of this kind was added to those of the thirty-six great poets, the fact comprises a major characteristic of the Satake version.
Sumiyoshi Myoujin, the enshrined deity of Sumiyoshi Grand Shrine in Settu (now Osaka Prefecture) was worshipped as one of the three deities of waka (a form of Japanese poetry)-literature, and Sumiyoshi-Ura (Sumiyoshi inlet) was a place of scenic beauty. This piece is unique as a kasen-e (paintings of great poets) also due to the fact that it depicts the Myoujin not as a portrait of deity but as part of the landscape painting of the Sumiyoshi shrine. It is a highly valuable piece of art, as a graceful landscape in the yamato-e (lit. Japanese painting) style. There is a waka "yoya samuki koromoya usuki katasoki no yukiawanuma yori shimoya okuran" written after the description of the origin of Sumiyoshi Myoujin. Formerly owned by Matsunaga Yasuzaemon (Jian).