Mizuha (Maizuru Shinki: Dancing Crane, Divine Turtle)

This piece hails ROHM’s manufacturing for not only connecting people to each other but also building a bridge to the future. The art expresses a prayer for the company’s rapid growth and unending prosperity as it spreads its wings and takes flight over the world stage.

Combining pointillism from the West with tarashikomi from the East, Toto Akihiko has developed his own original technique of “shifuku printing,” which involves using his own fingers to apply color thousands if not tens of thousands of times. Filled with a poetic sentiment created in concert with all the gods and spirits, the profoundly deep blue hue born of this original technique is known as “Toto Blue.”

This piece expresses a series of concentric circles crackling with sparks of energy as waves of light charged with the currents of ki. Karakami culture has been passed down over generations going back a thousand years, and in introducing a new way forward for it, this piece manages to transcend the gap between art and traditional craft. Reaching beyond the horizon of pictorial art, it is a truly innovative example of contemporary art.

Whether the blue of the sky or the blue of the oceans, the beauty of blue connects all in our world. The divine turtle is a messenger of the gods, destined to eventually become a dragon, while the dancing crane is an omen of good fortune. Together, the holy crane and turtle will connect ROHM’s prosperity to the blue Earth of the future in the hope that this prosperity will lead us to an even better world.

July 2024
Karakami Artist Toto Akihiko