Sliding Door Paintings at Kyoto Imperial Palace Revealed to Public for 1st Time; Event Marks 170 Years Since Reconstruction

The Yomiuri Shimbun

1:00 JST, November 2, 2025

A set of paintings on sliding doors titled “Legendary Virtuous Women of Ancient China: Lady from the Youxin Clan, Consort to King Tang of the Shang Dynasty” at the Kyoto Imperial Palace in Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto City, were unveiled to the press on Oct. 23.

To commemorate the 170th anniversary of the palace’s reconstruction, part of the paintings will be displayed to the public for the first time at an event opening in late November.

The paintings are in the Kogogu-tsunegoten, or Empress’s permanent palace, which is where empresses spent their daily life. The 16 paintings unveiled adorn the four walls of the Gedan-no-ma (lower-level room). The paintings were created in 1855 by Tsurusawa Tanshin, the palace’s court painter at the time, when the palace, known historically as Dairi, was rebuilt after a fire. The paintings depict women and mountain ranges based on the “Legendary Virtuous Women of Ancient China,” a collection of tales about women held up as models in ancient China.

During the autumn special exhibition “Kyoto Imperial Palace, Introduction of Court Culture, Special Exhibition Autumn 2025,” to be held from Nov. 26 to 30, five of the sixteen panels will be displayed.

“This is a rare opportunity to see the screen paintings in a palace hall that is normally closed to the public,” said an official from the Kyoto Office of the Imperial Household Agency. “We hope visitors will experience the brushwork and color palette up close.”