Masato Akai

The Kii Mountains connecting through Nara, Wakayama, and Mie Prefectures, have long been worshipped since ancient times as land inhabited by Kami.* Ideas having entered from the outside close to 1,300 years ago, the region even came to be associated with Chinese legendary paradises, such as the “Peach Blossom Spring” and the enchanted lands of sages, becoming a site of faith to this day. Having played and grown up in these mountains of faith, I strove to become a painter, capturing people’s realities and fantasies long associated with the ancient mountains. Through them, we can consider the lives of its inhabitants, the coming and going of many kinds of people, and the shaping and telling of legends, stories, and histories. We may even consider contemporary issues, such as the change in environment, and our current society that continues to progress at a rapid speed. I am an observer of everything in contemporary society through the eyes of a painter, yet sometimes I turn my back to shut out all of this. I would like to search out what I can accomplish as a painter living in the contemporary era, while also living simply as one human in the mountains.

*In Shinto belief, Kami are ancient deities residing in the natural world.