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ArtistFull-screen, complete width, broad, 16:9 format of a delicate linocut in rich colors, executed on rough handmade paper of poem number 100, Juntoku-in, of the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu: "In this ancient house, /Paved with a hundred stones, / Ferns grow in the eaves; / But numerous as they are, / My old memories are more." An old, white-haired Japanese man clad in fading blue workclothes is standing with his back to the viewer. He is gazing at an ancient palace to which a walkway paved with one hundred flagstones leads. The once majestic palace, intricately decorated with elaborate wooden carvings, is slowly crumbling, with ferns nesting in the aves and red and brown paint chipping. Although the man has his back to the veiwer, his sliumping stance indicates that he is old and, even more so, that he is melancholy and sad. The linocut is so detailed that we see every fold in the man's clothing and every curlicue and carving detail on the decrepit palace, as well as the rough stonemason's marks on the flagstones. The image is rendered as an exceedingly detailed, highly symbolic, large, zentangle-like linocut with enormous detail. Clarity of rendering, timeless, symbolical motif. Masterful technique. Rich colores, predominantly red and brown, contrasting with the blue of the man's clothing and the green of the ferns. Exquisite Japanese folio.
Poem No. 100 from the Japanese poetry collection Ogura Hyakunin Isshu (see https://jti.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/hyakunin/hyakua.html.) This is the last of the 100 poems in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, and suitably nostalgic and melancholy. Like the old man contemplating bygone times with melancholy, I am sad that this is the last dream in the series. I hope some of you have enjoyed this journey as much as I have. No real reason for low spirits, though: To put it in Buzz Lighyear's words, "To infinity and beyond" - let's move on to a new series!