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WHAT IS SHIIGA?
SHIIGA is not poetry.
SHIIGA is not painting.
It exists only where the two become one.
People often tell me that my work is charming or whimsical.
I am always grateful to hear that. But what I create is more than an illustration.
It is SHIIGA.
SHIIGA comes from the Japanese word 詩画 (shiga), which refers to the meeting of poetry and visual art.
I write it as SHIIGA to name my own approach to this relationship between words and images.
For me, SHIIGA is not poetry accompanied by an image, nor an illustration accompanied by words.
Poetry and image exist as equals. Neither explains the other.
The image does not illustrate the poem.
The poem does not describe the image.
They are created together, as one expression. Some emotions cannot be expressed through words alone. Others cannot be held by an image alone.
SHIIGA is the space where both meet, forming a single story that could not exist without either.
For me, writing and painting have never been separate acts of creation.
They have always been one.
NADESHIKO – The Spirit of SHIIGA
Many of the figures appearing in my work are inspired by the image of the modern Yamato Nadeshiko — not as an ideal of femininity, but as a symbol of quiet strength, dignity, and resilience.
To me, she is not a perfect or untouchable figure. She is someone who carries her own struggles quietly, continues to walk her own path, and finds strength within herself.
I have never been someone who moves through life with ease.
Even now, I continue to walk my own path, sometimes through uncertainty, supported by the love and kindness of the people around me.
Because of this, my SHIIGA is not created to teach, to persuade, or to provide answers.
Each work is a small story woven from the emotions and memories I have encountered along my journey—the light and the shadows, hope and disappointment, joy and sorrow, fear and love.
These stories are fragments of the path I have walked, preserved through the union of words and images.
If they can reach the heart of someone who is walking their own path, and become a small light that helps them continue forward even in moments of darkness, then my work has found its purpose.
As long as my journey continues, I will continue creating Shiiga.
For those walking through the darkness,
may these stories leave behind a small light.
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