Kwaadaardige wind, liefdevolle wind- laatste deel 1908 - 1910

This is the cover of “Kwaadaardige wind, liefdevolle wind- laatste deel” (Evil Wind, Loving Wind- Last Part), printed in an unknown year by Kosugi Tengai. I wonder what the story is. The cover is like a painting in itself, a field of muted green with gold lettering like emphatic brushstrokes. You know how it is, you start with a color, maybe a memory, maybe just the feel of the paper and the way the ink sits on it. You keep adding, subtracting, until it feels right. And then you add some more! I bet that's what Tengai did. He put his feelings in every character, every line, every space, every word. Each gold mark seems deliberately and lovingly made. Just think of the concentration needed! It reminds me of how abstract expressionists use expressive gestures to communicate emotion and meaning. The text is the image; the image is the text. It’s all connected.