The radiant Morning Glories (朝顔), like many of Kiitsu's Yamato-e-influenced masterpieces, is a pair of byōbu, a name that means "wind screen."

The dominant group of Japan are the Yamato people, a name which came into use a century ago to distinguish its imperial government, the oldest monarchic dynasty in the world, founded in the 6th century CE, from the other peoples, including Ainu, Nivkh, and Orok, who have distinct traditions. The name "wind screen" suggests that the original intention of the portable folding paper fixture was to protect people from cold drafts of air in their houses, but it could also be connected to the ancient Chinese practice of feng shui, which literally means "wind water," epitomizing the idea that living spaces should be places of flow and continuity, like streams of water and gusts of wind, not scenes from A&E's horror series "Hoarders." Researchers have discovered that byōbu date back to the Chinese Han dynasty, China's "Golden Age" that lasted from 206 BC-220 CE, and that they likely spread from China to Japan. Morning Glories demonstrate's China's long-lasting influence, as this is an Edo period work dating from the early nineteenth century, and yet it is clearly a product of the refinement of the Rinpa school. It consists of two six-panel kinbyōbu for domestic use, decorated with ink and gold leaf, or kinpaku, a signature specialty of Kiitsu and his school. The flowers are also known as Japanese Morning Glories, Ipomoea nil, and they belong to Convolvulaceae, the same family as the sweet potato. 

Kiitsu signed this work with one of his fly later monikers, "Seisei," (せいせい) which refers to refining, actualizing, and rarefying one's spiritual potential, according to the interpretation of Kouichi Kagayama, but which Google algorithms translate as "blame." Go figure. 

In the U.S., we get pictures of Snoopy and Romantic rose bunches on our stamps, and I love Snoopy, but he's no match for the set of ten ¥82 postage stamps showing all twelve panels of Morning Glories. It would have satisfied the most detail-attuned among us to print twelve stamps, one for each panel, but I guess 1.2 panels per stamp will do. "I'm not confident enough to use this as a stamp," writes an editor of Japaaan magazine. It definitely would require some chutzpah to use it to pay your parking ticket. The blogger Bluediary2 writes that stamps with beautiful designs like these will make you forget the negative vibes of the hay fever season. Bluediary2 adds that when you examine the original work, you can see that the postage stamp designer, Akira Tamaki, supplemented Kiitsu's work by adding extra flowers on the paper around the edges of the stamps. Bold move!