Prologue to a New Life — Kumano Reminiscence
A journey to Kumano — for me, a journey of rebirth. The prologue to a new life begins here.
20 × 20 cm · Not for SaleMandala Oracle Card
Beginning
KeywordsStarting again from zero, rebirth, a new self
The Story of the Mandala
In March 2024 I brought twenty-two years of teaching to a close. That April I spent a week on the road, driving through Koyasan, Totsukawa, the Kumano Kodo, Ise, and Uda and Tenkawa in Nara.
It was a journey of “death and rebirth” — truly the setting out of a new life.
Since ancient times, the pilgrimage to Kumano has been a journey to pray for “death and rebirth” while still alive. I travelled with the hearts of those who went before laid over my own, and this is the first mandala I drew after coming home.
From “Today’s Message”We can be reborn at any time, as many times as we need.
Artist’s Notes
The first work I drew in earnest after returning from Kumano — a journey of rebirth — two years ago.
While drawing a new work, “Recurrent”, from this original, I kept looking back at it and realised that a fractal structure had already been there at its centre. The structure of our bodies is found within nature: that is the fractal. So when we are in nature, we return to who we truly are. Perhaps it is when people see what already lies within them that they are healed, reassured, and returned to themselves.
Threads, June 2026 — from the artist’s notes on “Recurrent”, drawn from this work