Sugawara Michizane Expeled

This print depicts Sugawara no Michizane (845–903), the Heian-period scholar, poet, and official who was unjustly exiled to Dazaifu in Kyushu through the political intrigues of the Fujiwara clan. Michizane's exile and subsequent deification as Tenjin, the patron deity of scholarship, made him one of the most frequently depicted figures in Japanese art and theater, particularly through the kabuki play Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami. Kiyochika likely renders the moment of exile—departure from the capital, farewell to a beloved plum tree, or the desolate journey westward—with the atmospheric sensitivity and figure draftsmanship characteristic of his historical narrative prints. The subject carried ongoing resonance for Meiji audiences as a story of bureaucratic injustice and posthumous vindication.