Tenchi Dōkon

The phrase Tenchi Dōkon (天地同根) — "heaven and earth share the same root" — is drawn from the Zen text Zhuangzi. It holds that all phenomena, however distinct they appear, arise from one ground. These twenty-eight calligraphies trace that ground: beginning in the vast and impersonal (Time, Death, Infinite Space, Firmament), moving through the elements that compose the living world (Mineral, Root, Fire, Earth, Wind), and arriving at the human (Resonate, Letter, Person, Mixture).

Each character was written in sumi ink on handmade paper in a single, unrepeatable gesture. The twenty-eight pieces are strung together with paper and cord — installed as a continuous garland that connects the words to one another and to the space they inhabit. The installation has been ongoing since 2016.

The series was created during Fumiyo Yoshikawa's residency at the UCROSS Foundation (Wyoming, 2022). During that time, she shared the works with fellow resident Madison McArtha — poet — who offered translations of the characters into English. The word Firmament for 天 was McArtha's suggestion: a rendering that carries both the cosmological weight of the character and the particular quality of the Wyoming sky. Their exchange during the residency also gave rise to a collaboration on Yoshikawa's Rasen (Spirals) series.