Tenka Gomen

Ohayo gozaimasu! Sujibori irezumi today. I am practicing the japanese language now, in addition to studying it’s great images, which I have been pursuing for over twenty years. I am also studying Yamato’s written languages, and the calligraphy practice of shodo to write them. It is a slow journey, but it is a passion that burns quickly.

I love the layers of meaning inherent in the designs. I love the fact that you must put in work to “read” the images. They truly do tell a story to the heavily initiated.

There are many rules. I only try to respectfully to learn and follow them. The closer I get to understanding, the better my work becomes.

Books pile up on the bedroom floor. On the coffee table. On the kitchen table where I do my painting. Much of what I have learned has been forgotten already. It is like a language, you have to speak it to retain it. I am okay with forgetting. I know that the essence has been absorbed.

I am thankful that I have such an interest in this work. I am beyond thankful to those who have helped me. Deep reverence is reserved for those that have paved the way before me. I am in the middle; there was once a beginning, though there is no end. I help to carry the great tradition. I am a worker bee,  I am an ant. I have a singular job to do. Investigate and transmit the truth. I am an artist. I am an activist. I see now that it has always been so. This is how it will always be.