A Japanese Fan

choi

Lydialyle Gibson, An Auspicious View; This folding fan enfolds two sacred mountains. Harvard Magazine, November/ December 2020.
https://harvardmagazine.com/2020/11/edo-era-fans

Quote:

"THE EFFECT takes a moment to sink in: a double-sided folding fan, opulently painted in gold, silver, white, and azurite blue. On one side, the instantly recognizable profile of Mount Fuji, with its long, snow-covered slopes sweeping up toward the three-peaked summit; on the other side, the darker, M-shaped ridges of Mount Tsukuba. The natural transparency of the fan’s paper material allows the two images to coalesce, and the silhouette of each mountain defines the form of the other, appearing as a shadow in the background. * * *

"Produced during the early nineteenth century, the fan was part of 'Painting Edo: Japanese Art from the Feinberg Collection' (see harvardmag.com/edo-art-20), an exhibition earlier this year of more than 120 works dating to the Edo period—a 250-year span during which the arts flourished as Japan's insular feudal society began opening to the world, and the city of Edo [江戸] (modern-day Tokyo) transformed from a sleepy fishing village to an enormous, thriving metropolis, the de facto capital [referring to shogunate at Edo while imperial court at Kyoto] of the shogun's government. The exhibit drew from a massive collection promised [in 2013; 'promised' because the couple are alive] to the University by Robert Feinberg '61 [Harvard College 1961 and Oxford DPhil 1965, son of Harry Feinberg, founder of Duron Paints & Wallcoverings which was acquired in 2004 by Cleveland, Ohio-based Sherwin-Williams Co] and Betsy Feinberg.

"It [the fan] was painted toward the end of the Edo period by Suzuki Kiitsu [鈴木 其一 (1796 – 1858)], an accomplished acolyte of the School of Kōrin (often called Rinpa) style, characterized by brilliant colors, metallic finishes, and highly stylized, decorative designs.

"It [Mount Fuji] lay to the west of the city; Mount Tsukuba lay to the northeast [both mountains about equal distance from Tokyo, 45 to 50 air kilometers], a less auspicious direction. According to onmyōdō, a Japanese spiritual and philosophical practice drawn in part from the principles of yin and yang, the northeasterly direction was considered a 'demon gate' through which evil spirits passed. 'So you need a sacred mountain to keep your city safe,' [Harvard Art Museums' Rockefeller curator of Asian art Rachel] Saunders said. Or, even better, two [both Mounts Fuji and Tsukuba]. 'And if you think about it in those terms,' she continued, 'the person who's holding the fan has a fictive viewing position where they're standing between those two protective sacred mountains.'

Note:
(a) Harvard Magazine is "was founded in 1898 by alumni for alumni."  Wikipedia.
(b)
(i) azurite
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azurite
(chemical formula)
(ii) azurite
https://www.lexico.com/definition/azurite

Compare azure (adj and n; etymology)
https://www.lexico.com/definition/azure
(pronunciation)

(c) onmyōdō  陰陽道
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onmyōdō
(d) 筑波山
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tsukuba   
(section 1 Etymology: was named after a noble called TSUKUHA no Mikoto 筑箪 命 [who] renamed the area [after himself] 'Tsukuha,' which is now pronounced Tsukuba")

As in Chinese, kanji 箪 means bamboo basket to hold rice, with Chinese pronunciation tan.
筑 is an ancient musical instrument similar to today's 箏.
The kanji 波 has Chinese pronunciation ha, which is softened to ba when this kanji is not in the first of a compound words.
(e) Rinpa 琳派 school  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rinpa_school
("was created [in Kyoto] in 17th century Kyoto by HON'AMI Kōetsu [本阿弥 光悦 (both Kō and etsu are Chinese pronunciatios of the respective kanji] (1558–1637) and TAWARAYA Sōtatsu [俵屋 宗達, where 俵 is straw sack and 屋 means a maker (here of straw sacks)] (d. c.1643 [deceased around 1643]). Roughly fifty years later, the style was consolidated by brothers OGATA Kōrin [尾形 光琳] (1658–1716) and Ogata Kenzan [尾形 乾山 (乾 has two Chinese pronunciations: ken and kan)] (1663–1743)")

The kanji 派 has Chinese pronunciation "ha," which is softened to "pa."
() fictive (adj)
https://www.lexico.com/definition/fictive