CULLOM GALLERY | WORKS ON PAPER FROM JAPAN AND THE WEST | JAPANESE PRINTS | SEATTLE GALLERY 

Contemp. prints, paper cuts, collage, paintings

Iroha.

Ryohei Tanaka (b. 1977)
Sprayed, folded and hand-cut paper
Signed and dated in pencil verso
Date: 2011
17-1/2 x 23 inches
X111248
$650.

The Iroha is a Japanese poem, probably written in the Heian era
(794 - 1179), famous because it is a perfect pangram, containing each character of the Japanese syllabary exactly once. Because of this, it is also used as an ordering for the syllabary.

Even the blossoming flowers
Will eventually scatter.
Who in our world
Is unchanging?
The deep mountains of vanity--
We cross them today
And we shall not see superficial dreams
Nor be deluded.

i ro ha ni ho he to
chi ri nu ru wo
wa ka yo ta re so
tsu ne na ra mu
u wi no o ku ya ma
ke fu ko e te
a sa ki yu me mi shi
we hi mo se su