Zuiryū

Title of work: Zuiryū – The Auspicious Dragon

Struggle, human.
Move forward on the path you believe in.

The title Zuiryū (Auspicious Dragon) was born while I was painting this work, purely through inspiration.
Until then, I had never heard of such a dragon, yet for some reason I felt compelled to give it that name.

Later, when I asked ChatGPT about it, I learned that Zuiryū is described as a dragon that appears as a good omen, or a dragon that manifests in times of virtue.
At the same time, a phrase arose in my mind that seemed to contradict this image:
“Struggle, human.”

As I reflected on this, I began to feel that in our current age—where rapid technological advancement and generative AI have made life increasingly convenient—many people are gradually abandoning the act of thinking for themselves.
We have become richer, perhaps, but that alone cannot be enough.

Even so, there are still people who continue to search for the path they truly believe in, and who struggle relentlessly to walk it.
This dragon may have appeared as a kind of warning—or encouragement—toward such people.

Perhaps it also is telling us that, precisely because our political and social conditions are unstable, we need humans of virtue more than ever.