Now we have arrived at the main objective of this guide: to find the gold.
I would like to explain this while you gaze upon to Golden Fusuma. But first, take a moment here to pause the guide and fully examine the screens. Don’t just look at the piece, but truly take it in. Return to the guide once you have finished.

The artist didn’t use gold for this fusuma because they wanted to make it more luxurious or more gorgeous. Using gold allowed for more depth in the painting under the warm glow of a candle. The gold would melt into the background under the candle’s light, and instead the focus would be drawn to the trees and birds on the surface of the sliding screen.

But there is also a more practical use, other than just it’s beauty. Under the dim light, the surface would actually reflect any available light, making it seem as if the whole room was lit up. This is something that we can’t experience with the bright, fluorescent lights we use nowadays. It’s a concept that has been lost. We will delve a bit more into the details of the fusuma in the following section.