As announced in the Japan’s government gazette dated September 26, 2025, the folding screens Otsu and Karasaki and Plum Blossoms, both owned by Chiso Holdings Co., Ltd., have been newly designated as Important Cultural Properties of Japan.

Otsu and Karasaki, Kishi Chikudo, 1875

Plum Blossoms, Kishi Chikudo, 1875

These works are masterpieces by Chikudo Kishi, a leading figure who significantly advanced the modernization of Japanese painting. They clearly demonstrate an awareness of Western artistic trends and are of high historical value as some of the earliest works exhibited at an international exhibition at that time. Their importance as representative works of the Meiji period was a key factor in the designation.

This marks the third designation of works in the Chiso Holdings collection as Important Cultural Properties, following Maruyama Okyo’s Hozugawa River and Sketches Handscrolls.

Overview of Otsu Karasaki View

The painter Kishi Chikudo (1826-1897), a native of Hikone in Shiga Prefecture, was a master painter who represented the Kyoto art world of the Meiji period (1868-1912). This work was exhibited at the Philadelphia Centennial International Exhibition in the United States in 1876 by Chiso’s 12th head, Nishimura Sozaemon. Depicting the scenery around Lake Biwa—long celebrated as a famous landscape of Omi—it is recognized as one of Chikudo’s representative works, notable for its pioneering spatial expression that evokes Western painting and photography.

Another work by Chikudo in the company’s collection, Plum Blossoms, is currently mounted as a separate folding screen. However, research has revealed that it was originally mounted on the reverse side of Otsu and Karasaki. For the purpose of preserving the two works as an integral pair, Plum Blossoms has therefore been designated as an attached work.