araumi-no-shōji 荒海障子

Sliding screens *fusuma 襖, on which various images are painted including a rough sea, araumi 荒海. A well-known example is located at the north end of the wide eave-chamber *hirobisashi 広廂, on the east side of the Seiryōden 清涼殿, the main building of Kyoto Gosho 京都御所. Beginning in the Heian period, the front side of this screen was specifically decorated with a scene from the Sengaikyō 山海経 (Ch: Shanhaijing; an early Chinese text on geography), in which long-armed and legged figures appear beside a rough sea. On the reverse side is a painting of men fishing with wickerwork nets on the Uji 宇治 River. The paintings were executed in ink alone.