Horyukaku Illustration

Inspiration for this illustrations come from Japanese classic literature “Nanso Satomi Hakkenden”.

This work depicts a scene where the cornered hero fights on the castle Horyukaku.He is desperately climbing on the roof to survive.

This is a popular scene in Kabuki.

The frame is decorated with peonies and plum blossoms, which are important motifs in Hakkenden.

Classical Japanese literature is becoming unfamiliar even to Japanese people, but I have been familiar with it since I was a child.

Classical literature not only from Japan but from all over the world provides a lot of inspiration for my illustrations.

What I wanted to achieve most was to express the tragic feeling of the main character.

This scene is often depicted in ukiyo-e, but I wanted to depict a more realistic figure than just posing on the roof.

I think the idea of ​​climbing up the roof with bloody hands while holding a sword in your mouth worked.

I would be very happy if it leads to work related to Japanese classical literature.

What led me to my current style was an attempt to draw women in kimono and flowers with a touch similar to Mucha's.It went better than expected.One reason is that kimono, which is made up of straight lines, can develop complex wrinkles as people wear it and move around.This goes well with Mucha's style.Also, much of traditional Japanese literature is depicted in ukiyo-e, and Mucha's lithographs and Japanese ukiyo-e have one thing in common: they are drawn with clear lines.This is probably one of the reasons why the cultural fusion was so successful.In particular, Yoshitoshi Tsukioka's ukiyo-e prints depicting kimono fluttering with delicate lines have had a great influence on me.

When I decided to draw this scene, I had several poses in mind.I thought this pose of him climbing up while holding the sword in his mouth was the perfect way to convey that he was desperate.I was also particular about expressing the bloody hand grasping the roof.

Like ukiyo-e and lithographs, it takes a lot of effort to actually create prints, but digital coloring can easily add the texture of printing on paper.I don't work toward a fixed final design from the beginning, but I try out various ideas to get better while creating. I later came up with the idea of ​​adding a frame to the illustration of Horukaku.Digital coloring also allows me to try and compare different design ideas, which is very important to me.