Matsubara decided to celebrate the year of the dragon—an auspicious zodiac that also presents great challenges to be surmounted—by surveying illustrious renditions of the creature across Japan. In the halls of the Asuka Takamatsu Kofun tomb, Matsubara encountered first recorded painting of a Japanese dragon; the Seiryū. Imprinted upon his mind, this Azure Dragon, deity of the cardinal directions alongside the Firebird, Black Turtle, and White Tiger, served to guide the emperor into the afterlife.