Two kneeling children lift a writhing octopus above the heads, tentacles sliding across the faces in a moment of playful unease. In these ceramics vignettes Aiba Ruiji transforms a familiar sea creature into an encounter between curiosity and the uncanny. The motif recalls the famous octopus scene in Kinoe no Komatsu by Katsushika Hokusai (Lot 43), where human and marine life intertwine in imaginative narrative. Such creatures also appear frequently in humorous netsuke carvings (Lot 41), extending Edo wit into contemporary sculpture.
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