Edutainment > Kaiju Manga (8) - The Umibozu

The Umibozu
copyright Tom Kristensen, 2008

Tom Kristensen, born 1962, is a young artist from Australia who works in the tradition of Japanese woodblock printmaking. On this page, he writes about his latest series "Kaiju Manga".

Here is the original text written by Tom Kristensen. Text and images are copyright protected and may not be used or distributed for other than private use without the prior consignment of the author/artist.

The Umibozu - No. 8

For as long as there have been boats there has been a fear of the deep. Sailors tell tales of the Kraken or the Leviathan, gargantuan creatures with tentacular arms that emerge from the gloom to drag down ships. No doubt these sea monsters are based on the giant squid that are sometimes found washed ashore. In Japanese folklore the Umibozu has a large round head said to resemble the shaven heads of Buddhist monks, more like an octopus than a squid. The name Umibozu is derived from the characters for the sea and for monk. The Umibozu is like a lost soul seeking vengeance and it will capsize the boat of anyone who dares to speak with it.

The monk in the inset is borrowed from a print named Nichiren Shonin (1931) by Unichi Hiratsuka that features heavily in Oliver Statler's classic text on Sosaku Hanga. Making this print was like an act of religious observance for Hiratsuka and he aimed to print ten thousand copies. The endless repetition of a simple task is said to bring enlightenment. By placing the monk inside a bubble I am also suggesting the Buddhist theme of transitory existence. If life is like a bubble we spend much time worrying about the bubble bursting. Lying beneath the froth and bubbles we can make out the skull and cross bones.

Tom Kristensen
January 2008

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The artist was first discovered by Eric van den Ing, co-author of a classic ukiyo-e book "Beauty and Violence" and owner of Saru Gallery. After Eric van den Ing had placed Tom's woodblock prints on his online gallery, a few days later a collector had bought the whole set. Mr. van den Ing seems to have a "magic hand" for new artists. He was the first to introduce Paul Binnie in 2000 to a larger online community of friends of Japanese prints.

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