Story of Michizane Sugawara, known as Tenjin (Tenjin engi 天神縁起)
This is a Japanese illustrated narrative of the life of the scholar Sugawara no Michizane, later deified as the god Tenjin, made by the painter Reizei Tamechika (1823-1864) and reproduced as a printed book. The scenes show Heian-period palace architecture, verandas, and courtiers in layered robes, with plain black line drawing and little or no colour. A designer could take from them the clean economy of outline drawing, the strong horizontal and diagonal structure of raised wooden buildings, and the patterned textiles rendered in fine line.
