Wind God and Thunder God (Fujin Raijin-zu)

Across two screens of bare gold leaf, two demon-gods hurtle in from opposite edges: Raijin, god of thunder, ringed by a wheel of drums, and Fujin, god of wind, stretching a billowing bag of air between his hands. Sotatsu leaves the whole centre empty, so the gold reads as sky and the eye feels the gap they leap across. It is the founding work of the Rinpa school of bold decorative painting; Ogata Korin, whose plum-blossom screens are also in this collection, later copied it in homage.