Photo= Snowscapes on partition paintings in Ninomaru Palace (Gallery of Nijo Castle, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto)

An exhibition, "Winter Changes to Spring – Snowscapes on Palace Murals," which displays partition paintings of the National Treasure Ninomaru Palace, located in Nijo Castle, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, began on December 22, in the gallery of the castle. The magnificent partition paintings produced by painters of Kano School in the first half of the Edo Period fascinate visitors.

Ninomaru Palace has approximately 3,600 partition paintings, among which 1,016 paintings are designated as Important Cultural Properties. Usually, replicas are displayed in the palace, but some actual paintings are exhibited in the gallery seasonally. This time 26 paintings, including those decorating the great alcoves of the "Ichi no Ma," or first room, of both Kuro-Shoin and Shiro-Shoin, are exhibited.

The painting titled "Matsushibagaki Kinchou-zu, " or Pine, Brushwood Fences and Birds, is a large piece measuring three meters high and 4.6 meters wide. A huge snow-covered pine tree is placed at the center, and red-blossomed plum branches and birds including jays, bulbuls and others are depicted. There is evidence that the brushwood fences, depicted in the lower part of the partition, were represented with chalk impasto, gold leaf, silver paint and other techniques to convey the glittering snowscape at the time it was produced.

The exhibition will last until February 26. The admission fee is 100 yen, in addition to the entrance fee to the castle.