Fusuma are rectangular panels that are covered with paper or cloth. They can slide from side to side to redefine
spaces within a room, or act as a door. Fusuma are sometimes called karakami or karakami shoji. Kara means Tang
and kami means paper in Japanese. Fusuma were made of patterned paper that was brought back to Japan by
Japanese envoys from China during the Tang dynasty. The paper was used for tsuitate screens and shoji screens
(sheer, translucent paper room dividers). Historically it has been a common practice to paint these screens.
Buddhist monks and well-known artists particularly painted ink wash landscape and bird-and-flower. During
the Azuchi- Momoyama period (1568-1573) it flourished with the development of castle architecture for
daimyo houses, which led to the creation of magnificent and gorgeous fusuma paintings.

Title: Meigen Temple Fusuma
Artist: unknown
Period: Late Edo period, 1800-1868
Form: A pair of six fold screens