Images(4)

Section of Jidai fudo utaawase (Competition between Poets of Different Eras): Portrait of Mibu no Tadamine

Date13th century

Label TextPoetry contests were a popular pastime at the Heian-period court (794–1185) and later developed into imaginary competitions between pairs of poets of different eras. This fragment of a handscroll features Mibu no Tadamine, a 10th-century poet and one of the thirty-six poetry immortals, in an imaginary poetry contest with Minamoto no Shunrai, a 12th-century poet who is shown in the original handscroll but is not seen in this segment. Three poems were brushed above the portrait in a fluid and elegant calligraphy style.

Object number48.170

Photo CreditPhoto: Paul Macapia

Exhibition HistorySan Francisco, California, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, Treasures of Japan, 1960. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Japanese Art in the Seattle Art Museum, 1960. Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland Museum of Art, Japanese Decorative Style, 1961 (Chicago, Illinois, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 1961). Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, A Thousand Cranes: Treasures Of Japanese Art, Feb. 5 - July 12, 1987. Tokyo, Japan, Suntory Museum of Art, Luminous Jewels: Masterpieces of Asian Art From the Seattle Art Museum, July 25 - Sept. 6, 2009 (Kobe, Japan, Kobe City Museum, Sept. 19 - Dec. 6, 2009; Kofu, Japan, Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, Dec. 23, 2009 - Feb. 28, 2010; Atami, Japan, MOA Museum of Art, Mar. 13 - May 9, 2010; Fukuoka, Japan, Fukuoka Art Museum, May 23 - July 19, 2010). Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing [on view July 16 - Dec. 5, 2021].Published ReferencesLee, Sherman. "Seven Early Japanese Paintings," in Art Quarterly, Autumn 1949, pp. 309-324, discussed pp. 321-322, illus. p. 323 "Handbook, Seattle Art Museum: Selected Works from the Permanent Collections." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1951, p. 92 (b&w) Fuller, Richard E. "Japanese Art in the Seattle Art Museum: An Historical Sketch." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1960 ("Presented in commemoration of the Hundredth Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations between Japan and the United States of America"), no. 74 Kawai, Masatomo, Yasuhiro Nishioka, Yukiko Sirahara, editors, "Luminous Jewels: Masterpieces of Asian Art From the Seattle Art Museum", 2009, The Yomiuri Shimbun, catalogue number 32

Credit LineGift of Thomas D. Stimson Memorial Collection

Dimensions11 1/8 x 9 1/8in. (28.3 x 23.2cm)

MediumSection of a handscroll, mounted as a hanging scroll; ink and slight color on paper