misaki hanazuka
1982 Born in Gifu, Japan
2005 Graduated from Tokyo Gakugei University, Department of Arts and Culture,Major in Japanese Painting
2020 Studied under sumi-e artist ShuKo Tsuchiya
2023 Awarded the Grand Prize at Bokusenkai 2023 Exhibition
2024 First solo exhibition “Kyōkai (Boundaries)”
2025 Exhibited in “BLOOM! 2025” at the R.W. Norton Art Gallery, USA
Japanese Ink Painter
For me, ink painting is a fundamental practice of questioning the relationship between the self and the world through the medium of the body.
Rooted in traditional sumi-e techniques and informed by my experience as a yoga instructor, my work traverses abstraction and figuration to visualize the passage of time and the physical traces left behind.
Rooted in traditional sumi-e techniques and informed by my experience as a yoga instructor, my work traverses abstraction and figuration to visualize the passage of time and the physical traces left behind.
Each brushstroke emerges from the kinetic chain of the whole body, drawing out sensations beneath conscious awareness.
By embracing the uncertainty and irreversibility of sumi ink, I attempt to create spaces where control is momentarily suspended—spaces of temporary release from narrative and intention.
By embracing the uncertainty and irreversibility of sumi ink, I attempt to create spaces where control is momentarily suspended—spaces of temporary release from narrative and intention.
I regard the body as a vessel of memory—beyond the individual—engraved with the histories of land, people, and place.
To paint is to surface those unconscious layers of memory.
I often turn to natural motifs because they most purely mediate presence without the burden of narrative structure.
To paint is to surface those unconscious layers of memory.
I often turn to natural motifs because they most purely mediate presence without the burden of narrative structure.
At the core of my practice lies the primal landscape of Japan: the vivid immediacy of nature, the residues of a forgotten era, and the silent fragments of perception that remain unspoken.
These persist in the depths of my sensory awareness as a subtle, enduring tension.
These persist in the depths of my sensory awareness as a subtle, enduring tension.
In an age where artificial intelligence and digital technologies increasingly optimize even perception and decision-making, I deliberately choose the ambiguous, sensory media of ink and the body.
Through the act of painting, I seek to reveal the felt immediacy and possibilities that fall through the grids of control and computation.
Through the act of painting, I seek to reveal the felt immediacy and possibilities that fall through the grids of control and computation.
Creation, for me, is a dialogue with the absurd—and my deepest expression of love.
Residency History
2012-2013 Yangon, Myanmar
2018-2019 Barcelona, Spain
Teaching & Workshops
• Instructor, Seijo Gakuen Junior High School, Asuka Mirai High School (Kannai Campus）
• Meet the Creators sumi-e workshop at Daikanyama Teens Creative
• Host of Morning Flow online yoga class
Qualifications
• Certified Color Coordinator (1st Grade, Encouragement Award)
• RYT 200 Certified Yoga Instructor (Flow Style Yoga, Yin Yoga, and more)
By “awakening,” I do not mean reaching some lofty state, but rather being fully present—liberated from the narratives of past and future. Kū, as expressed in “form is emptiness, emptiness is form,” refers to the idea that all phenomena lack inherent substance and exist only through relationships. Fixed notions of self quietly dissolve through the embodiment of awakening and the understanding of kū, becoming pure potential in constant flux.
The memories of my childhood in the mountains and rivers of Gifu still carry the texture of earth, water, and wind. What I felt then was a sense of unity in which “I” could simply exist as part of the whole. That immeasurable emptiness embodied by nature still guides me today. When I seek direction, I return to deep forests or places with beautiful water.
Through my own sense of presence, I depict the world’s potential.
Creation, for me, is the highest form of love.