Kusumi Morikage “Sojo Henjo Falling Off a Horse”

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IItem No.
Title	“Sojo Henjo Falling Off a Horse”/Ink and light color on paper
Overall size
Artwork size
Artist	Kusumi Morikage
Date Created	17th century
Price	¥1,000,000（excluding tax）

In the autumn volume of “Kokin waka shu”, there is a poem titled “I fall from my horse in Sagano and read.

Na ni medete oreru bakari zo ominaeshi ware ochiniki to hito ni kataruna

This is a poem about falling from a horse while trying to break a flower, as if to hide his embarrassment. The author of this poem is the Sojo Henjo, one of the Rokkasen (six poets) in the early Heian period.

The humor of this poem becomes more profound when we take into account the monk’s status as a priest, who is forbidden to marry a women.
The name “Ominaeshi” is said to have come from its beauty that overwhelms women . A monk himself fell from his horse when he was captivated by an ominaeshi…
Hensho then said, “I only picked the flowers because I was attracted by the name ‘Ominaeshi’. Please don’t tell anyone else that I, a monk, have broken the precept of marry and fallen,” he recited in his poem.

Morikage’s paintbrush depicts such humorous episodes in a light and unconstrained manner.

Even after falling from his horse, Henjo still smiles and reaches for the flowers.
The flower, without paying attention to him, straightens her back and blooms with dignity. The contrast between the two (?) The contrast between the two is so funny that I couldn’t help but smile.

In this work, Morikage’s richly drawn lines and soft light colors are also very appealing features.

Kusumi Morikage was a painter of the Kano school active in the early Edo period. He was called one of the Four Heavenly Kings under Kano Tanyu (1602-1674), but was later excommunicated, and developed his own style of painting. He is known for works such as the national treasure “Cooling Off”(Tokyo National Museum collection).

As an antique, it may have some scratches or blemishes. We recommend that you visit our store to check the condition.
If you wish, we will send you detailed photos of the item, so please feel free to contact us.