Rakuchu-Rakugai screen, Japan Edo period 18th century

Japanese six-panel folding screen (byobu), ink, pigments, gofun and gold on paper mounted on wood, black lacquer frame.
It depicts scenes from life in Kyoto called rakuch?-rakugai zu, referring to the "inside" of the capital (rakuch?) and the "outside" (rakugai).

This view corresponds to the West part of the Capital.
The central scene depicts Nijo Castle during the July festival.
All around the famous monuments and the famous picturesque places, identified by small glued labels, are animated by a multitude of characters in various occupations.
On the first panel from the right, you can see the Golden Pavilion with a huge phoenix on its roof just above the Kitano Shrine. Nijo Castle is in the center, Nishi Honganji at the bottom of the sixth panel, and the temples and shrines of Arashiyama in the upper parts of the fifth and sixth panels.

The oldest existing screens of this type are a pair dating from the
1520s, formerly in the Machida collection and now in the Museum
national history of Japan.
While the artists of the Tosa school undoubtedly followed the example set by their ancestor Mitsunobu, virtually all screens of this type are anonymous and their makers are known as machi-eshi (town painters). These paintings are encyclopedic visualizations of Kyoto and the lives of its people. The wide surfaces of the screens were perfectly suited to urban landscapes, as they offered artists opportunities both to present panoramic views of the capital and to focus on details of everyday life.
120x282cm
Japan, Edo period, 18th century.