also occupy a large place in the narration, and include depictions of the historical trade route, which connected Mino with Matsumotodaira, then finally Kyoto, as well as the small shrines and state-maintained inns along the route. Some details are still unclear today, such as the exact meaning of the marks drawn on some farms. Provenance The has belonged to the Chōgosonshi-ji temple since its inception, but is stored in the Nara National Museum. The work was designated as a National Treasure of Japan on 9 June 1951, and it was on that occasion that its current title, , was adopted, although the scrolls do not mention that title. From the beginning of April to the end of May 2016, the Nara National Museum organized a special exhibition, during which all three painted scrolls, spread out over their entire length, were presented to the public for the first time. The appears not to have survived in its original form, as suggested by the absence of text in the first scroll, perhaps due to alterations or old reassembling. Today, there is no consensus on the original form of the work; the existing hypotheses envisage the simple disappearance of the texts of the first scroll, the disappearance of a few painted scenes, or of an entire painting at the start of the first scroll, or even the reassembly of the sheets making up the scrolls in a different order. The pictorial pigments have also largely disappeared in various places. An engraving on the box in which the scrolls were kept indicates that a fourth scroll, the , now disappeared, was stored there. Several copies of the have been made, including one by from 1701 which is kept at Chōgosonshi-ji. Contemporary study and appreciation Today, the is considered by art historians to be one of the masterpieces of art. It has been the subject of dozens of academic articles, and in particular makes it possible to study the formation of the movement in the Heian period, very few earlier paintings having survived. It also illustrates the refinement of narrative painting at the end of the Heian period, foreshadowing the golden age of the during the Kamakura period that followed. Due to its dynamic and continuous storytelling, the is often cited to contextualize the influence of Japanese painting on modern manga, which is very popular in Japan. See also List of National Treasures of Japan