These tiny, fugitive-looking images, in which luminous fragments of nature pines bowing before a wind, the undulation of a flock of cranes were painted in colored inks on handmade paper by his collaborator Tawaraya Sotatsu and then written over by Koetsu, have acquired, for Japanese taste, the sort of cardinal importance that a fresco cycle or an altarpiece might have for ours.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | The Subtle Magic of Koetsu