An Imperial Excursion (Miyuki), A Boat Cast Adrift (Ukifune), and The Barrier Gate (Sekiya)

Tosa Mitsuyoshi

Ink, color, and gold leaf on paper

Metropolitan Museum of Art

This luminous folding screen captures three episodes from Japan's beloved eleventh-century novel 'The Tale of Genji,' rendered in brilliant mineral pigments atop shimmering gold-leaf clouds that drift across the composition like floating stage curtains. Tiny courtiers on horseback, a solitary boat adrift on dark water, and an imperial procession wind through stylized green hills, each scene a jewel-like vignette of Heian-era courtly drama. Tosa Mitsuyoshi, head of the Tosa school renowned for its refined yamato-e style, brings exquisite precision to these miniature figures while using gold not merely as decoration but as a unifying mist that binds the narrative together. Hung in a home, this screen offers an endlessly rewarding tableau, its opulent surface and literary depth inviting close, repeated viewing.