遠山の手長

I often use the motifs of Tenaga (Long-Armed) and Ashinaga (Long-Legged) in my works. There is a deep connection between Japanese mountain folklore and Tenaga and Ashinaga. They are sometimes depicted as giants living in the mountains, and there are legends of high-ranking monks sealing away Tenaga and Ashinaga as proof of having opened up mountains.
In the context of the tea ceremony, "Tōyama" refers to parts of tea utensils that resemble the shape of distant mountains and is used to describe the appearance of tea jars and tea bowls.
The "Tenaga and Ashinaga of Tōyama" motif was created during my exhibition in Yamanashi ("Resonance of the Null: Interconnected Emptiness in Digital Nature") by producing AI-generated images of Tenaga and Ashinaga based on my own sculptures of them.
Although this motif is not a photograph, it presents visuals that evoke Tenaga and Ashinaga standing in the forests of Tōyama, depicting an imaginative representation where one can feel a new kind of nature. Through the crossing from sculpture to AI, it was once again materialized in physical form through platinum printing.