The Flying: Sho (The Flying: Development)

Sho (承) is the second movement of Kawachi Seiko's Flying series, occupying the development phase of the ki-shō-ten-ketsu (起承転結) structure. Where Ki establishes the initial premise, Sho elaborates and extends it — building upon what was introduced without yet introducing the sharp turn that Ten will provide. In Kawachi's swirling line vocabulary, Sho likely intensifies the compositional energy established in Ki, deepening the sense of motion and expanding the visual field. The print's hand-carved lines, incised with chisels of varying widths into hardwood blocks, generate a rhythmic density that builds across the series. The treatment of flight as a subject — whether literal, metaphorical, or purely formal — gains momentum here. Kawachi's training in oil painting informs his sensitivity to layered tonal gradation even within the constraints of woodblock, and Sho, as the developmental phase, likely shows this layering at its most expansive before the pivot of Ten.