In ancient times, people believed that the dead were reincarnated as butterflies. These beautiful winged insects that emerge from their hard chrysalises to float through the air remain mysterious to us, even today. Thinking of the many people who died when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and the countless who have died in conflicts throughout the world, and sensing how endangered is peace in the modern world, I designed this year’s Hiroshima Appeals poster as a prayer for a cessation of hostility. The gradation into blue at the top of the poster alludes to the ukiyoe woodblock prints of the Edo era, while the gold that colors most of the picture is intended to represent the world above, with the beautiful butterfly symbolizing the reincarnation of the victims of Hiroshima and world conflict.

The butterfly shape follows the stylized patterns found in the publications known as Koetsubon, or Koetsu Books and Saga-bon, or Saga Books that were available from the Momoyama Period (1573-1603) to the early Edo Period (1603-1868), and is one that I love. The text HIROSHIMA APPEALS 2006 is presented as a message from the soul revealed on the wings of the reincarnated butterfly. The orb that the butterfly seeks to defend represents both the wish for peace in our hearts and our star: the earth. In embedding a golden butterfly in a golden background I thought to visualize the profundity of this prayer. As a contemporary Japanese poster that incorporates the traditional printing arts of ukiyoe and Koetsu-bon, I was envisaging a simple composition that would also suggest the powerful space that is a Catholic or esoteric Buddhist altar. It is my hope that this image will be seen by many people and that they will feel free to interpret it as they wish.