花影風月
Flower Shadow Wind Moon
Collotype & Karakami
Limited collection of mixed-media prints, with
Benrido Academy & Maruni/Karamaru
Kyoto 2025-2026
…
Background: Flower Shadow Wind Moon – 花影風月
In Japan, “Flower Bird Wind Moon”, 花鳥風月 or “kachō fūgetsu”, refers to a profound appreciation for nature’s beauty and the artistic spirit it inspires. It represents the traditional themes of natural beauty in Japanese aesthetics, as well as artistic pursuits (like poetry or painting) that take nature as their subject.
In this case, the emphasis on the purely botanical theme and the dual two-tone printing techniques led the artist to swap ‘bird’ with ‘shadow’ to make “kaei fūgetsu”. Shadows refer to the passing of time, a theme captured throughout the series, including in its combination of older and newer techniques of art and artisanship: centuries old woodblock prints, 20th century collotypes and 21st century digital photographs all come together.
Also through choosing plants strongly linked to Japanese seasons, the artist focuses on what is temporary, fading, and fragile. A flower wilts, a shadow shifts, wind passes, the moon wanes. The collection explores memory, loss, and the beauty of things in the process of disappearing. It hints at another Japanese term, “mono no aware”; the bittersweet awareness of impermanence.
The collection is built on seven different photographs taken by the artist across Japan between 2015 and 2025, at temples and gardens in Kyoto, Tokyo and Kamakura. These have been developed into collotypes by Collotype Printing Studio Benrido (Kyoto) and been handprinted by the artist on traditional Japanese paper.
The photographs were chosen for their seasonal and philosophical symbolism, and for a certain quiet atmosphere that each holds. This quietness creates space for extra depth by adding a karakami print on top. Together with the professionals at Karamaru in Kyoto, woodblock prints and photographs were matched in a careful process of collaboration. Matches were made based on visual balance, seasonal meaning, and botanical themes.
Each karakami woodblock holds meaning, and most are aged beyond human lifetimes. Some are still in pristine condition, whilst others have been damaged due to their fragility–showing the traces of love and use, and infusing several of the prints with the elements of ‘wabi sabi’, beauty in the imperfect, in aging, in natural processes.
The decision to combine karakami and collotype prints was deliberate. An ode to non-digital processes: processes still influenced by the elements, the hands, the emotions. A reconnection between the human mind and soul through balancing vision with nature. In this case, this process wasn’t done purely alone. The artist’s decision to move into completely new territory created a special focus on community and exchange; learning from and interacting with others.
With the depth of memory held in the karakami print; the symbolism of the print; the history of collotypes; the geographical sites of the photographs; the memories of the artist associated with the photographs; and the memory of the artist’s time, collaboration and learning during her sabbatical in Kyoto which produced the final works, the work is not only layered in the physical sense, but has layers of time, meaning and memory rivalling an archaeological dig.
Read more about the separate meanings of each work below. Some works have separate pages with more information–click on their photos to explore these.
Find the websites for Maruni, Karamaru Kyoto and Benrido here. Follow their work on instagram: Karamaru Kyoto, Maruni, Benrido.
Lotus 蓮 “Hasu”
“Hasu” is combined with a karakami print of the same name. The photograph is the earliest one of the series, taken in Kamakura in 2015. The lotus is strongly symbolic for the artist, whose chosen Chinese/Japanese name references the lotus, as found in her artist seal.
Fern 歯朶 “Shida”
The photograph was taken at Kiyumizudera, a famous temple of holy water overlooking Kyoto. The woodblock print is of the shinobu fern (Athyrium niponicum), cherished in Japanese culture for its symbolism of endurance and fidelity. The fern’s ability to cling to rocky cliffs and thrive in shade represents steadfastness.
Bamboo 竹 “Take”
Though taken in Kyoto in October 2025, this is not from the famous bamboo forest in Arashiyama, but instead from Kōdaiji Temple.
The bamboo stalks stand for strength, the leaves from the karakami, 文嶺笹 “Bunrei zasa”, bring softness. Bamboo is celebrated as a symbol of resilience and flexibility, bending in strong winds without breaking. As one of the “Three Friends of Winter” (alongside pine and plum), it represents perseverance and integrity through harsh conditions. Its hollow stem and fast growth are associated with humility and an openness to learning.
Pine 松 “Matsu”
In contrast to bamboo, this picture was taken in Arashiyama. In the background is the moon, rising in late autumn. The picture is from November 2025, the karakami print 松葉 “Matsuba”, depicts the direct translation of its name: pine-needle pairs. Like “Momiji” the karakami print references water: a night-time reflection on a lake on which pine-needles are drifting in the moonlight.
Plum 梅 “Ume”
“Ume” is the last and seasonally also latest of the ‘three friends of winter’: bamboo, pine and plum. It has been combined with a karakami print that depicts all three ‘friends’; 月影松竹梅 “Moonlight, pine, bamboo, and plum blossoms”.
The print was chosen to look like a light frost, just before the season breaks into full spring. It was taken on a very windy, rainy day in February 2020 in Wazuka, Kyoto, just before the pandemic shut borders across the world, freezing people into isolation, and asking of them to, like plum blossoms, weather hardship in good grace.
Cherry blossom 桜 “Sakura”
“Sakura” depicts the full range of exuberant spring. Here, the cherry blossoms have been overlayed with a light/shadow pattern from the karakami print 影日向枝桜 “Kagehinata edazakura”: Shadow-and-Sunlight Branch Cherry Blossom. The contrasting light and shadow patterns in karakami prints emphasise yin/yang; bringing balance and depth, in both pattern and meaning. Both the print and the photo look up at the blossoms against the light.
The photograph is the only exception to the Japanese locations. These were the artist’s first cherry blossoms in East Asia, just down the road of where she lived in Seoul, during the early months of the pandemic in 2020. It references the love the artist has for both countries.
Maple 紅葉 “Momiji”
“Momiji” is combined with the karakami 細渦 “Hoso uzu”. A pattern depicting concentric circles like ripples from raindrops on water.
These water swirls are a traditional graphic print particular to Kyoto. Representing purification, they are associated with good fortune, including prosperity and bringing people together.
The picture was taken during the rainy high summer season of 2015, in the Kyu Shiba-rikyu Gardens in Tokyo. The karakami pattern of concentric rings references the water ponds in the gardens and the seasonal rain. The print is also a meeting between the two Japanese capitals, traditional and modern.
Photos of the woodblock prints used in this series, by Kyo Karakami Maruni Kyoto:
