The Collection

Individual works are studied in depth, often beginning with fragmentary information and gradually forming a fuller historical, textual, and material context through research. The interpretations presented here are the result of this ongoing process of study and should be seen as informed personal views rather than definitive or authoritative conclusions. This page presents the collection as it exists today: a body of works shaped by study, conservation, and attention to lineage.

The decision to present the works in reverse order of acquisition is not merely practical; it mirrors the way understanding accumulates. Last year two pieces arrived almost side by side — a painted work after Hokusai, and a work by Hakuin Ekaku. Their simultaneous arrival formed an unplanned but revealing hinge in the life of the collection. At the time, there was no certainty. The Hakuin was acquired with little familiarity and without any firm expectation of authenticity, while the Hokusai carried with it a different kind of energy — that of a big name. What followed was a slow process of research and reassessment. The Hakuin revealed itself not only to be genuine, but to belong to a late and particularly lucid phase of the artist’s work, and to stand among the strongest expressions of his Hotei-in-a-boat theme. At the same time, the Hokusai demanded something else entirely: the release of the importance of recognisability. What became clear was that I had to let go of the lure of the Hokusai in order to turn toward the clarity offered by Hakuin’s teaching. In retrospect, this moment marked a subtle turning — not away from curiosity or ambition, but toward steadiness. In this way, the order of acquisition becomes a quiet record of learning: not simply what was acquired, but what was relinquished, and what remained.