This painting was painted in Japan during the Muromachi period. It was much later collected by British collector Authur Morrison. Sir William Gwynne-Evans bought Morrison's Japanese and Chinese painting collection, then donated it to the British Museum in 1913.
Kose Kanaoka is considered as one of the first significant temporal or worldly artist in Japan during the Heian Period (794-1185) where he pursued and developed a unique style to Japanese painting. He helped establish the style of Yamato-e painting which is known as the classical Japanese style painting in which the themes are central to Japanese culture, scenic views, natural elements, and traditions. Due to the increasing influence of Yamato-e style painting, Kara-e, or the Chinese style painting, lost its sovereignty. Kose Kanaoka had founded an art academy known as Kose School of Art which was named after him. In his academy the themes of paintings shifted from the earlier renowned Chinese style of paintings which depicted Chinese themes to Japanese style of painting.
Kanaoka was known to have a keen interest in painting landscapes, and portraits of animals and civil servants. His brush strokes were said to be thin yet elegant and refined. The paintings he drew of dragons and horses were so realistic that they seemed to have come back to life and glaring right back at the admirers. Even though most of his documented works were destroyed in a fire in the 17th century, or through the passage of time, he still remains one of the most influential figures in the history of Japanese artwork.
One such painting that is traditionally attributed to Kose no Kanaoka is "Sugawara no Michizane in Chinese dress" or "Toto Tenjin (Tenjin crossing to China)", which is a hanging scroll. Sugawara was a cultural and scholar figure of Chinese literature during the Heian period. He was a politician who rose to be the minister of the right, which was the highest government rank of that period, but was exiled to Kyushu due to a conspiracy plotted against him by the Fujiwara family. A few years later he died which was followed by a series of natural calamities like storms and violent deaths in the capital of Kyoto. People believed it was the vengeful spirit of Sugawara, avenging his unfair fate. He was reinstated and even had his rank raised to that of a Shinto deity. Sugawara was then named as Karai Tenjin and the Kitano Shrine was established in his memory.
Years later, during the Muramachi period (1333-1568), revival of the interest in Chinese style writing known as Kambun transpired. This helped in the restoration of Michizane's reputation as a Japanese poet who transcribed in Chinese language. In this painting, Michizane can be seen wearing traditional Chinese silk robe, holding a beautiful branch of plum blossom (symbolizes as a badge for a Chinese scholar) with one of his poems being inscribed at the top of the painting. Although this painting is traditionally attributed to Kose no Kanaoka, modern scholars date the surviving scroll to the Muramachi period, suggesting it was created by an unknown artist much later who worked in a style associated with Kanaoka.
The painting represents Sugawara no Michizane, the Japanese scholar in a Chinese dress, holding a twig of what was recognised as a plum blossom, a tree he had special affection for. According to the legend, he was raised to the status of a deity after his death, when, upon his death, the land came to be infested with storms and other violent climate disasters as if avenging his death. Thus, he was raised to the level of a Shinto deity to pacify his soul, which departed in an unfair manner.
