Shuten Orochi
— The Serpent Embodying Myth in Leather —
Rooted in the Japanese myth of Yamata no Orochi and the traditional performing art of Iwami Kagura from Shimane, this work is reimagined as a leather bag designed to contain Japanese sake.
The myth in which Susanoo-no-Mikoto intoxicates and defeats the great serpent serves as the conceptual core of this work, redefining sake as a mediating presence that connects humans and deities.
The organic expression and undulating serpentine form are articulated through the use of genuine leather, chosen for its inherent sense of life as a material once belonging to living beings. Although functioning as a bag, the work aims to embody the presence of a mythological creature manifested in the contemporary world.
This work does not seek to reproduce tradition, but rather to manifest myth within the present.
The theme of “regeneration” within this work resonates with the artist’s own embodied experience.
By embedding myth into leather, Shuten Orochi emerges as a work that reinterprets Japanese culture not as preservation, but as transformation—giving rise to a new form of mythological expression.
