Iroha / いろは
2025年3月
Installation
ソフトパステル、スケッチブック、ホワイティング、兎膠、木製パネル
Soft pastel, sketchbook sheets, whiting, rabbit skin glue, and wood panel
Iroha (いろは) is an old Japanese alphabetical order and a pangram. It is also read as a poem rooted in Buddhist philosophy, expressing the idea of impermanence. Although I intended to express my cultural background through the poem Iroha, I also wanted to develop my practice further from my previous work, Intimacy and Rejection/親密と拒絶, which used the Japanese alphabet in a way that resembled abstract drawing. Moreover, I became interested in the marks left behind by the main artwork during the artistic process. Thus, I attempted to connect the concept of Iroha with the unintended traces. This connection suggests that, although I am accustomed to living in another country, there are still unconscious roots within me, quietly tying me back to my home country's culture.
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いろは歌 / Iroha poem
いろはにほへと ちりぬるを
わかよたれそ つねならむ
うゐのおくやま けふこえて
あさきゆめみし ゑひもせす
Although its scent still lingers on the form of a flower has scattered away
For whom will the glory of this world remain unchanged?
Arriving today at the yonder side of the deep mountains of evanescent existence
We shall never allow ourselves to drift away intoxicated, in the world of shallow dreams
*Iroha, translated into English by Ryūichi Abe
Ryūichi Abe, The Weaving of Mantra: Kūkai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse
(Columbia University Press, 1999), p. 398.
いろはにほへと ちりぬるを
わかよたれそ つねならむ
うゐのおくやま けふこえて
あさきゆめみし ゑひもせす
Although its scent still lingers on the form of a flower has scattered away
For whom will the glory of this world remain unchanged?
Arriving today at the yonder side of the deep mountains of evanescent existence
We shall never allow ourselves to drift away intoxicated, in the world of shallow dreams
*Iroha, translated into English by Ryūichi Abe
Ryūichi Abe, The Weaving of Mantra: Kūkai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse
(Columbia University Press, 1999), p. 398.
