Seven Warring States of Zhou Dynasty China: Wei

Wei (魏) was one of the seven states of the Warring States period (475–221 BCE) of late Zhou-dynasty China, situated in the central plains and associated with early Legalist administrative reforms. This silkscreen forms part of the numbered series Shiraga dedicated to those seven states, alongside Yan (Swallow), Qin, Chu, Qi, Han, and Zhao. The titling reflects the Chinese classical literary register he adopted with increasing frequency after taking Tendai Buddhist vows in 1971, when he received the priestly name Sodō. As with his other prints, the screenprint medium reduces the impasto of his foot-paintings to flat zones of saturated pigment, preserving the directional arc of the body-driven gesture while losing the material weight of oil on canvas. The result is a graphic distillation of the vocabulary that defined his Gutai-era practice from 1954 onward.