Artwork by Masaki Hirokawa
Hanyō
半妖
About the Work
Beings who possess a mix of sacred and demonic blood are often bestowed with many divine trials. In this world, there is neither good nor evil, neither right nor wrong; it is the harmonious balance of yin and yang that sustains the universe. Yet humans, driven by their own righteousness and beliefs, take up arms and wage war against each other—a sorrowful reality beyond reason, rooted in age-old cultures and traditions.
If we continue to struggle with conflicting forces and polarities within ourselves, it is nothing but a divine challenge we must overcome. When opposing natures within us unite and harmonize, our inner turmoil will cease, and conflict will disappear from the world.
Essay — Yoko Ozawa
“Only that which defies interpretation is beautiful.” (Hideo Kobayashi)
Hanyō recalls these words to the mind of the viewer. Where does normality end and abnormality begin? Where does the sacred end and the profane begin? Where does friend end and enemy begin? The world cannot be cut along such simple dualisms—and when it is forced into them, tragedy seems only to repeat itself.
Even if we do not naïvely accept the equation totalitarianism = evil and democracy = good, we are creatures who long to understand, to solve, to settle; we are quick to seize “easy answers.” In ages of groping in the dark—when the future offers no clear outline—mysterious actors move in the shadows, and it is precisely then that “easy answers” reveal their power.
Hanyō’s gaze seems to ask something of us: to endure the darkness where answers do not exist, to think with patience, and to resist the temptation of conclusions that are simple and easily understood. Yet we often fail to remain faithful to the problems that torment the mind. We do not merely flee from them; we relinquish the act of thinking for ourselves and take refuge in a “mainstream dualism.” As if to caution us against this, Hanyō looks back at us in silence.
And Hanyō also teaches us why we are drawn to art: not because art contains answers, but because art refuses comprehension—and refuses simplistic answers. Yes—only that which defies interpretation is beautiful.
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