For this assignment, I went with the tale of Urashima Taro. At the outset of this project, I was familiar with the tale but had been previously not aware of the different iterations for its ending. I was particularly drawn to one specific ending where Taro opens the box given to him by the princess, only to find a crane feather. At this point he turns into a crane and takes flight to the skies, joined by his deceased family and friends.
With this being the inspiration, I wanted to create a scene that emphasized on subliminality - by inserting bits and pieces of visual motifs alluding to its themes without explicitly depicting what is central to the story. I tried to depict the crane in a compositional place that draws the viewer into the piece to then travel the work: sort of taking over and going in circles but never leaving it. The cranes are a reference to the ending of this iteration so as to allude to Taro’s fate, almost cradling him.
In my research, I referred to a lot of ukiyo-e prints and noted how Japanese artists at the time either used white sparingly or liberally to bring attention to certain subjects. I tried to employ this here, though I am not sure if choosing to make the cranes an off-white colour makes for a successful contrast. Other visual motifs consists of the turtle, as seen in the object pinched between Taro’s fingers. As iconic as it is, I did not want to explicitly depict the turtle so I chose to only depict its shell. Taro’s escapades started with the turtle, so it felt fitting at the time. The snippets of the dragon weaving in and out of the waves references the Dragon Palace, whereas the pearl serves as Taro’s eye (like the phrase, “an eye for an eye”). But in this case, he spent nearly an eternity down there lavishing in the palace’s wealth, and his fate was sealed.