On the morning of Saturday, September 26, 2026, I visited Ryugu Shrine in Otaru and dedicated my painting "Keiai Ryugetsu" to the shrine.
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the shrine's founding, as well as the 190th anniversary of the birth and the 120th anniversary of the passing of Enomoto Takeaki, who is enshrined there: a threefold milestone. On this occasion, I presented to the chief priest, Mr. Honma, a painting of Lord Enomoto and a dragon rising through the moonlight.
Along with the painting, I presented a written dedication, a short text about the work, and an explanation of the cymatics pattern of "love" hidden within it. The chief priest and everyone at the shrine were deeply pleased, and I am truly relieved and grateful.
The Dedication: a bond of more than thirty years
Everything that led me to this offering is written in the dedication I presented with the painting. Here it is in full (translated from the Japanese original).
With deep respect, I offer my heartfelt congratulations to Ryugu Shrine on the joyous occasion of the 150th anniversary of its founding.
I understand that this year is truly meaningful, marking a threefold milestone: the 150th anniversary of the shrine's founding, the 190th anniversary of the birth of Enomoto Takeaki, and the 120th anniversary of his passing. In this memorable year, I humbly dedicate my painting "Keiai Ryugetsu" before the deities. In it I have painted Lord Enomoto and a dragon rising through the moonlight. It is a work filled with my reverence and affection for Lord Enomoto and my endless gratitude to Ryugu Shrine.
Looking back, my bond with Otaru and with Ryugu Shrine spans more than thirty years.
From 1992 to 1994, not long after I entered working life, my first posting in my former career was here in Otaru. I spent those three years as a beginner who knew nothing, in Otaru.
On August 28, 1993, I held my wedding at the Otaru Grand Hotel, and the Shinto ceremony was performed by Chief Priest Honma of Ryugu Shrine. I have never forgotten the kindness of having our marriage vows blessed.
Years later, from 2020 to 2022, I was posted to Otaru once again, this time as the head of the branch office. That both the beginning and the end of my working life took place in Otaru is a mysterious bond in which I feel a deep sense of destiny.
During my years in Otaru, Ryugu Shrine looked after me in countless ways and encouraged me at every turn. Wishing to one day become a painter, I dedicated an illustration that the shrine displays every year during the May holidays. That, too, is an unforgettable memory.
Last year, when Lord Enomoto's own calligraphy "Hokkai Chingo" (Guardian of the Northern Sea) was restored, I made a small contribution through crowdfunding. To be part of protecting Lord Enomoto's calligraphy was a joy beyond anything I had hoped for.
And this year, I left the company where I had worked for thirty-four years and took my first step onto the path of painting that I had long aspired to. I now work on my paintings every day at my home in Sapporo.
That this great turning point in my life coincides with the shrine's 150th anniversary, and that I may place before the deities a painting of Lord Enomoto, who is to be enshrined here, is a blessing far beyond what I deserve.
With gratitude for all these bonds, and with my resolve to walk this new path, I dedicate this painting, "Keiai Ryugetsu."
I pray from the bottom of my heart for the ever-growing prosperity of Ryugu Shrine and of all who revere it.
An auspicious day in September 2026
Painter KOHIKO (光日子) / Mitsuhiko Aizawa
About the work "Keiai Ryugetsu"
Allow me to share a few words about what I placed in "Keiai Ryugetsu."
I understand that on the occasion of the shrine's 150th anniversary, Enomoto Takeaki is to be enshrined as a deity. Once welcomed as a god, he may find himself far removed from the pleasures he knew and loved in this human world. So I painted this work with the wish that, at least within this picture, he might still enjoy a pleasant moment as a human being.
Lord Enomoto is said to have dearly loved peony flowers, and he was also known to enjoy a drink with good company. So I placed peonies and sake beside him. I did hesitate, wondering whether such a warmly human scene was fitting for an offering painting. But Lord Enomoto was a man full of human warmth, deeply loved by many people. Wanting to capture that very humanity, I painted him raising his sake cup, about to enjoy a drink as he gazes out over this world. May he keep raising his cup forever, cherishing this world: that is the feeling I entrusted to this work.
And in honor of the shrine's name, Ryugu, "Dragon Palace," I set a dragon dancing across the distant moon. A dragon rising to the moon: onto this I laid my reverence and affection for Lord Enomoto, and named the work "Keiai Ryugetsu."
In Hokkaido, May, when the peonies bloom, is also the season of cherry blossoms. The simple pleasure of ordinary people sharing sake beneath cherry blossoms at night: I layered that scene into this painting as well.
Nothing would make me happier than if Lord Enomoto, and all of you who see it, were to enjoy this work.
Painter KOHIKO (光日子) / Mitsuhiko Aizawa
The vibration of "love" hidden behind the moon: Kotodama Cymatics
For this work, I measured the sound of my own voice saying "ai" (love) as frequencies, and painted the form that sound creates, hidden behind the moon that lights the dragon. "A," spoken with the mouth wide open (about 621 Hz), and "i," with the mouth narrowed (about 234 Hz): the sound of "love" is these two resonances, openness and intimacy, laid over each other.
When I played this "love" frequency, a bar-like shape appeared. From this bar, an image of a form extending in five directions came to me, and intuitively I arrived at a shape like cherry blossom petals. I then chose the closest shape from among the actual Chladni figures and used it as the framework for the pattern.
A cherry-petal shape extending in five directions
A flower of vibration built on a Chladni figure
Rather than placing it in the foreground, I let it seep out quietly from deep within the moonlight. May Enomoto Takeaki, now a deity, pour love upon everyone who visits: I entrusted that wish to this cherry-blossom form born from my voice. Sound becomes form, and sound that has become form overflows from within the painting as vibration. This idea is the motif of my work.
* Frequencies were measured from recordings of the artist's own voice (first formant of each vowel).
* Chladni figures: Ernst Chladni, Entdeckungen über die Theorie des Klanges (Leipzig, 1787)
The Frame
For the offering, the painting was set in a carved antique-gold frame, chosen so that it would sit naturally in the atmosphere of the shrine hall and let the light of the moon and cherry blossoms shine quietly.
Another offering: the dragon illustration displayed at the shrine
This is an original illustration I drew in February 2023, when I was being transferred away from my post in Otaru in my former career. I drew it with the resolve to one day pursue this path, and with gratitude to Ryugu Shrine in Otaru, which had looked after me so well, and dedicated it to the shrine.
To this day, the illustration is displayed on the shrine grounds every year during the spring grand festival in May and the autumn grand festival in September. I am truly happy that a picture I drew is treasured and displayed like this every year.
The dragon illustration is always displayed on the shrine grounds during the festival seasons. If you visit Ryugu Shrine at those times, I would be delighted if you took a look.
How and where "Keiai Ryugetsu" will be displayed is entirely up to the shrine, but I expect it will likely be shown during the festival. If you see it then, I would be glad if you looked at it together with this story, thinking, "Ah, so this is that painting."
Painter KOHIKO (光日子)