象徴と変転 - ﾇﾙエ（鵺）

null-e (Nue)
What are the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac? Why does this sequence of twelve continually recur, endlessly cycling beyond its boundaries? In addressing this question, I invoke the roar of the mythical beast Sarutorahebi, which once inhabited Mount Kōga in the Oku-Mino region. With the head of a monkey, the body of a tiger, and the tail of a serpent, this creature embodies a chimerical violation of boundaries, resonating with the haunting cry of the Nue that once shattered the silence of Heian-era nights. Through such boundary dissolution, all beings are seen to intermingle, remaining in an undifferentiated state.

Here sits the wooden sculpture named null-e (Nue), physically representing this dissolution of borders. Its monkey head symbolizes intelligence, its tiger body dynamic power, and its serpent tail infinite cyclical motion. Together with the inclusion of the cat, the Thirteen Signs blend and intertwine, adorned externally by motifs of Edo-period auspicious beasts celebrating longevity and good fortune.

Embedded at the sculpture’s heart is the "Object-Oriented Bodhisattva." In our era of Digital Nature, where algorithms attain Buddhahood, distinctions between human and machine, matter and information, code and carving, dissolve into one another. This process is vividly inscribed in Japanese cypress from Kiso, bearing the precise traces of chisel work. Upon its forehead rests the Sanskrit-like symbol "null (ﾇﾙ)," a reinterpretation of the Buddhist notion of "Emptiness" into the computationally undefined "null." Carved onto its surface are the 276 characters of the Heart Sutra, etched in three-dimensional form as a ritualistic transcription. In this fusion of algorithm and prayer, the concept of "Form is Emptiness" is layered with computational spirituality.

I have named this sculpture null-e (Nue). Nue—simultaneously meaning "chimera" and "null-e"—embodies an end-to-end transmutation apparatus that effectuates the materialization of all things from one end to the other. Here, traditional craftsmanship recursively collaborates with algorithms, deities transition into digital forms, and folk craftsmanship melts into the space of Digital Nature. Occupying a central position, this sculpture serves as both a distinctly Japanese symbolic embodiment of the materialized "null" and an origin point in a newly established coordinate system of syncretic Shinto-Buddhist digital data.

As the twelve signs continually revolve and boundaries dissolve, everything undergoes reciprocal transformation. It is precisely at the culmination of this ongoing "materialization" that our Digital Nature will ultimately emerge into being.