6. Iro-e Cast Bronze — The Kettai

This is the Cast-Bronze Kettai, in colored enamel. It was exhibited in 1941 at the Fifth Bunten. Like the lovebird you have just seen, it uses iro-e dō, a technique rare among Shodo's works. Although its colors flake easily and it is difficult to handle, Shodo kept researching, and kept taking on the challenge. The "Kettai" of the title is a legendary swift horse — a foal said, at only seven days old, to run faster than its own mother. Shodo expressed that astonishing speed through the tension dwelling in its sharply pricked ears, the way the hindquarters are lowered, and the powerfully drawn tail. As you view it, please feel the speed, the tension, and the force driving toward the future, alive within this small horse.