Four Winds

Sunazawa’s work remained largely focused on the woodcarving he began in his youth. His wood sculptures, featuring biomorphic forms and brimming with vitality, range from delicate small works to imposing monuments. Late in life he produced dynamic works on the theme of the wind. The largest of all is Four Winds, installed in the open-air museum at Sapporo Art Park, made from four Ezo spruce trees over five meters in height, on which nature has “applied the chisels of wind and snow.” Sunazawa connects the wind to the number four, as in the poem that describes the wind as “a beast with four heads and four feet.” His Listening to the Wind, also carved from Ezo spruce, features a row of four pillars that evoke tree spirits.

(Description from Sapporo International Art Festival)

Bikky Sunazawa

Sapporo Art Park

1986