Irises first became a popular pictorial motif in the seventeenth century through the revival of the Tales of Ise, the tenth-century classic of courtly literature, and through Kakitsubata, a Noh play it inspired. Ogata Korin treated irises in many variation and media, and they became a standard theme among his followers in the Rinpa School. Here, their stately vertical forms combined with an angular bridge that sweeps diagonally across both screens allude to an episode in the ninth chapter of the Tales of Ise. Exiled from Kyoto to the eastern provinces after an affair with a high-ranking court lady, the hero of the Tales stops at a place where a small stream branches into eight channels, each with its own bridge. At the sight of the irises, he composes a nostalgic love poem. Since this theme was familiar to his audience, Korin eliminated the tale's narrative content and focused instead on vibrantly colored clumps of iris against a shimmering ground of gold leaf. The asymmetrical balance that binds the two screens in a tension-filled, cohesive whole exemplifies the rigorous sense of design underlying Korin's finest large-scale compositions.