Pool Autumn Leaves Tournament

I am very honored to have been selected for the Grand Prize in the first-ever "Pool Autumn Leaves Tournament."

Well, first of all, I'm happy. It feels like my ingenuity, or rather, my hard work, has paid off. Since it's a tournament-style competition, I think the second round was the toughest.

The way I chose the autumn leaves and how I scattered them in the pool. In the second round, my opponent was an American pool, so I decided to fight with Zen.

I removed all red-toned colors from around the pool and placed just one large, burning red maple leaf. That's right. Like Rikyu's morning glory. Since the Americans would likely layer on thick, heavy reds, I aimed for an effect that would make the judges, who were tired of seeing that, think, 'Oh,' and feel refreshed. It was like the effect of cutting off all the morning glories and placing just one in the tea room.

And then, that raging torrent of autumn leaves in the final. Yes. That was my expression of the Tatsuta River. 'The deep crimson, dyeing the water'—that one.

I will continue to create works of art by scattering autumn leaves in pools, leading up to the off-season next year. Thank you very much.
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