Digital replica brings historic Osaka screen to life at Eggenberg

An ORF report says a digital reconstruction of a historic Japanese folding screen is now on display at Eggenberg Palace, allowing its detailed scenes of Osaka around 1600 to move through an app.

The original screen was bought by the Eggenberg family in the 17th century, divided into eight sections and built into a wall of the palace. The paintings survived there by chance.

The screen shows boats travelling along rivers, aristocratic pastimes including falconry and tea ceremonies, and processions from temples and shrines. It also depicts detailed clothing and costumes, as well as jugglers and a small white cat travelling on a boat. According to Paul Schuster, the cat would have helped protect trading vessels from parasites and mice.

The artwork was recreated for a digital presentation. Visitors point a phone at the replica using an app, causing the fishermen to fish and a horse to move in the paintings. Government commissioner and former foreign minister Ursula Plassnik said the interactive display offered a way to bring the artwork closer to the public.

The replica was first shown at the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, where more than one million people saw it and its digital presentation. Marko Mele, director of the Universalmuseum Joanneum, said the museum had signed a new cooperation agreement with Kansai University in Osaka to generate new research and knowledge about the screen.

Schuster described the work as one of the most valuable historic Japanese artworks in Austria. The interactive artwork is now available to experience at Eggenberg Palace.