《Views in and around the City of Kyoto》
Edo period, 17th century Color and gold-leaf on paper
These screen paintings depict sights and customs in and around Kyoto. On the right, a procession of Gion festival floats draws the eye. On the left, we see, in front of Nijo castle, another large, but very different, procession. Continuing all the way to the imperial palace in the righthand screen, the procession is the official entry into the imperial palace of Tokugawa Masako, to become the emperor’s consort on the eighteenth day of the sixth month of 1620. Screen paintings of this genre of ten depict the four seasons, but these are limited to summer. Rather than presenting Kyoto in general, the implication is that they record a significant historic event.