The character tiger appears to morph into a tiger itself in this work. Instead of using a colored ink, Morita developed a technique in which he first wrote with an aluminum flake pigment mixed with PVA glue onto smooth black paper and then coated the written surface with lacquer. Morita was a proponent of “calligraphy without characters, ” reducing writing to abstract forms that defy legibility. During the 1950s and 1960s, Morita actively communicated with European abstract artists and American abstract expressionists, acting as a bridge to promote calligraphic arts.
In East Asia, tigers are considered auspicious and are one of the twelve zodiacs.
