A Painted Census of Kyoto
The pair of folding screens known as the Uesugi version of Scenes In and Around Kyoto (Rakuchu-rakugai-zu) holds a remarkable headcount. Across twelve panels, roughly 2,485 people fill the avenues, gateways, and courtyards of the old capital, drawn small but distinct: shopkeepers, palanquin bearers, dancers, monks, and warriors all going about their day. The work was painted in ink and mineral pigments on paper backed with gold leaf, and it takes the form of a pair of six-panel byobu (folding screens).
Each screen reads as a bird's-eye view of Kyoto, with bands of gold cloud dividing one district from the next. The right screen takes in Shimogyo, the lower or southern city; the left takes in Kamigyo, the upper or northern city. The genre name Rakuchu-rakugai-zu means "scenes within and beyond the capital," and it became a popular subject for screen painters during the sixteenth century. The most celebrated surviving example now sits far from the city it portrays, in a museum deep in the mountains of Yamagata.
The Hand Behind the Screens
For most screens of this kind the painter is anonymous. This one is not. A small round seal in vermilion, jar-shaped and reading "Kuninobu," appears on both screens. Kuninobu was the given name of Kano Eitoku (1543 to 1590), the painter who would later dominate the workshops serving Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. That seal makes the Uesugi screens the only Rakuchu-rakugai-zu with a documented author, and the author happens to be one of the most important figures in the whole history of Japanese painting.
Some scholars read the confident, densely worked brushwork as the hand of a young Eitoku, perhaps in his early twenties, though the exact date is still debated. The Agency for Cultural Affairs places the painting in the Momoyama period; it is sometimes described instead as a product of the late Muromachi years, since the work sits right at the seam between the two eras.
Why It Is a National Treasure
The screens were designated a National Treasure on June 15, 1995. Their value rests partly on rarity. Only three examples of Rakuchu-rakugai-zu survive from before the early Momoyama period: this one and two others, the Sanjo and Takahashi versions, both Important Cultural Properties held at the National Museum of Japanese History.
Among the three, the Uesugi screens stand apart for sheer information. The painter labeled the scene with 232 small ink captions written directly onto the gold clouds, naming temples, shrines, and the mansions of warriors and court nobles. The Sanjo version carries only 61 such labels. The Uesugi screens also pack in far more people and far more incident, including seasonal festivals and quiet scenes of ordinary street life, rendered with a fine, controlled detail that rewards slow looking.
What to Look For
On the right screen, the Gion Festival fills the lower city, its tall floats threading between rooftops while crowds press in to watch. The same screen includes the Imperial Palace, the wooden veranda-stage of Kiyomizu-dera, and the great pagoda of To-ji. The left screen gives prominence to the shogun's residence and the mansion of the powerful Hosokawa family.
One gate in the painting has been tied to a real event: a new crossbar gate built for the shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru's visit to the Miyoshi residence in the spring of 1561. Clues like this lead scholars to date the depicted scenery to the early 1560s, though the date of the scenery and the date of the painting need not be the same.
Look closely and the screens behave like a field guide to a working city. A figure hangs laundry; a child runs after a dog; vendors lay out goods; a procession winds toward a shrine gate. Because the original is fragile, the museum keeps the lighting low and the viewing periods short, so a slow circuit of the display case is the way to find these moments.
The name "Uesugi version" comes from the screens' long ownership by the Uesugi, lords of the Yonezawa domain. Family records indicate that Oda Nobunaga sent the screens to the warlord Uesugi Kenshin, a gift most often dated to 1574 (the Agency for Cultural Affairs gives 1573 or 1574). One tradition holds that the shogun Yoshiteru first meant to commission the work as a present for Kenshin, and that his death in 1565 left the plan for others to finish, though this account is not firmly proven.
Around the Museum
The museum sits inside Denkoku-no-Mori, a cultural complex beside Matsugasaki Park on the site of the former Yonezawa Castle. A few minutes on foot brings you to Uesugi Shrine, dedicated to Kenshin himself, and to the statue of Uesugi Yozan, the reforming lord remembered for the saying that anything can be done once a person resolves to do it. The nearby Uesugi Memorial Hall, a former count's residence, serves Yonezawa's local cuisine, including dishes traced back to Yozan's famine-relief cooking.
A practical note on the screens themselves: the original is shown only during limited spring and autumn periods, usually about a month each, and a high-fidelity reproduction stands in for it the rest of the year. The reproduction has its own appeal, since it can be displayed without glass and viewed at close range. A neighboring gallery runs a digital recreation that lets you move through the painted streets of sixteenth-century Kyoto.
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Q&A
- Can I always see the original screens?
- No. The original is shown only during limited spring and autumn periods, roughly a month each, and a reproduction is displayed the rest of the year. Check the museum's exhibition schedule before you travel.
- How do we know who painted them?
- A vermilion "Kuninobu" seal on both screens identifies the painter as Kano Eitoku. It is the only surviving Rakuchu-rakugai-zu whose painter is documented.
- Why is a screen of Kyoto kept in Yamagata?
- Oda Nobunaga is recorded as having sent it to the warlord Uesugi Kenshin around 1574. The Uesugi later ruled the Yonezawa domain, and the screens stayed with the family.
- How do I reach the museum?
- Yonezawa is about two hours from Tokyo on the Yamagata Shinkansen. From Yonezawa Station the museum is roughly 2 km; the city loop bus reaches the "Uesugi-jinja-mae" stop in about 10 minutes.
- How much time should I allow, and what else is there?
- Allow an hour or two. The permanent gallery also holds the National Treasure Uesugi family documents and a digital immersion room. Adult admission to the permanent exhibition is 410 yen.
Basic Information
| Official name | Paper, Gold-Ground, Colored Scenes In and Around Kyoto (by Kano Eitoku; six-panel folding screens); commonly the Uesugi version of Rakuchu-rakugai-zu |
|---|---|
| Designation | National Treasure (painting) |
| Date designated | June 15, 1995 |
| Period | Momoyama period (16th century) |
| Painter | Kano Eitoku (1543-1590) |
| Format | One pair (two six-panel folding screens); ink and color on gold-ground paper |
| Owner | Yonezawa City |
| Location | Yonezawa City Uesugi Museum, 1-2-1 Marunouchi, Yonezawa, Yamagata |
| Viewing | Original shown in limited periods; reproduction otherwise. Permanent exhibition adult admission 410 yen. Open 9:00-17:00 (last entry 16:30) |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/201/10332
- Cultural Heritage Online (NII)
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/47441
- Yonezawa City Uesugi Museum (Denkoku-no-Mori): National Treasure Uesugi-bon Rakuchu-rakugai-zu
- https://www.denkoku-no-mori.yonezawa.yamagata.jp/rakuchyu_rakugai.htm
- Denkoku-no-Mori: Access and Contact
- https://www.denkoku-no-mori.yonezawa.yamagata.jp/info.htm
- Canon Tsuzuri Project: Rakuchu-rakugai-zu (Uesugi version)
- https://global.canon/ja/tsuzuri/works/rakuchurakugaizu-uesugibon/
Last verified: 2026.06.08