Title: Satake-bon Sanjurokkasen Emaki and Sumiyoshi Daimyojin (The Satake-bon Illustrated Scroll of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets, and the Sumiyoshi Daimyojin Shrine) Volume 2 of 2, Circa 1600-1700. An Extraordinarily Rare Manuscript Copy after the Original Kamakura Scroll, with Eighteen Paintings
Author: After Satake Family; Poetry Originally Compiled by Fujiwara no Kinto
Condition: Very Good
An extraordinarily rare, Early Edo Period, 17th century manuscript entitled Satake-bon Sanjurokkasen Emaki and Sumiyoshi Daimyojin, or The Satake-bon Illustrated Scroll of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets, and the Sumiyoshi Daimyojin Shrine. This is the second volume of two.
Selected by Fujiwara no Kintō of the Heian Period, the Sanjurokkasen are a group of Japanese poets of the Asuka, Nara, and Heian Periods as exemplars of Japanese poetic ability.
Since that, various editions of the Sanjurokkasen have been produced, from the Thirty-Six Female Immortals of Poetry, the New Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry, and even the Late Classical Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry, each with a unique selection of poets.
This example is a copy after the Satake-bon scroll in particular, produced during the Kamakura Period, and passed down through the Satake Family of the Akita Domain, before being sold in 1919 and sold in parts, due to the scroll’s complete and extravagant price. Today, the 37 fragments existing in private collections, institutions, and other collection, though the Kyoto National Museum was able to exhibit 31 of the 37 fragments in 2019, with permission from their respective owners on loan.
This copy is that of the complete second scroll, depicting the following landmarks and poets in extremely fine detail: Sumiyoshi Daimyojin Shrine, Ki no Tsurayuki (872-945), Lady Ise (875-938), Yamabe no Akahito (Active 724-736), Yoshimine no Munesada or Hensho (816-890), Ki no Tomonori (850-904), Ono no Komachi (825-900), Fujiwara no Asatada (910-966), Fujiwara no Takamitsu (939-994), Mibu no Tadamine (Active 898–920), Ōnakatomi no Yorimoto (886-958), Minamoto no Shigeyuki (?-1000), Minamoto no Saneakira (910-970), Minamoto no Shitagō (911-983), Kiyohara no Motosuke (908-990), Fujiwara no Motozane (1143-1166), Fujiwara no Nakafumi (923-992), Mibu no Tadami (Middle Heian Period), Nakatsukasa (912-991).
The paintings are faithful renditions of the original Kamakura Period copy, with subtle use of coloring.
Manuscript copies of the Satake-bon, even Early Edo Period copies, are extraordinarily rare, both in institutional holdings and at auction or public catalog sales. A copy of such quality would have been produced using the original scroll for visual reference.
One emakimono (picture scroll) on paper, 36 x 1162 cm
This manuscript handscroll is in very good shape, with some wear and tear to the initial opening text and outer cover. There is some marginal loss to the upper margins, but no paintings are impacted