Mineral Memory: The Tactile World of Yuji Musashihara’s Animal Paintings

Yuji Musashihara — Artist page
Biography, available works and enquiries

There are no outlines in Yuji Musashihara’s animal paintings. This is not an omission but a deliberate surrender—a refusal to impose boundaries on living things.
Working on a vertically positioned surface, Musashihara holds his brush perpendicular to the paper and draws each hair individually with mineral pigments ground from stone. For white fur, the process unfolds in two stages: a base layer of yellowish-white iwaenogu followed by gofun—powdered oyster shell—layered on top. The mineral particles refract light at irregular angles, producing a soft topography across the surface that borders on the tactile. Viewers invariably describe the same impulse: the urge to reach out and touch.
“Manazashi (Gaze)” depicts a zebra from Kobe’s Oji Zoo. The boundary between black and white stripes exists not as a line but as a gradual shift in pigment density, and within that transition, something breathes. This is Musashihara’s first solo exhibition at Daimaru Kobe, and presenting an animal from this city’s own zoo quietly anchors the work to a specific place and a specific encounter.
“Negai no Sora (Sky of Wishes)” strips the background to pure color fields—no objects, no landscape, only the temperature of a season. What remains unpainted becomes a resonance chamber for the animal’s presence, extending the breath of the subject beyond the edges of the paper.
The exhibition “Flying, Running, Swimming” runs through May 26 at Gallery Toart, 8th floor, Daimaru Kobe. The artist is present today, May 24. Works on view range from the monumental 150F painting “Ayumi (Steps)” to intimate portrayals of lion cubs, polar bear cubs, white tiger kittens, king penguins, barn owls, servals, and koi—creatures of sky, land, and water gathered under one roof.
Musashihara was born in Gifu Prefecture in 1976, completed his MFA in Nihonga at Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts, and is a member of the Japan Art Institute (Nihon Bijutsuin). His work is held in the public collection of Sato Sakura Museum and has been exhibited at Sato Sakura Gallery New York. He holds solo exhibitions regularly at major department stores across Japan.
“Manazashi” — P8 (W333×H455mm) / Kumohada hemp paper, mineral pigments / 2025 / ¥528,000 (tax & frame incl.)
“Negai no Sora” — F6 (W410×H318mm) / Kumohada hemp paper, mineral pigments / 2025 / ¥396,000 (tax & frame incl.)
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