
Dragon Gate I
"Dragon Gate" is a series of drawing which is influenced by a passage from Nichiren (who was a Japanese monk lived in 13th century)
The passage is following:
A waterfall called the Dragon Gate exists in China. Its waters plunge a hundred feet, swifter than an arrow shot by a strong warrior. It is said that a great many carp gather in the basin below, hoping to climb the falls, and that any that succeeds will turn into a dragon. Not a single carp, however, out of a hundred, a thousand, or even ten thousand, can climb the falls, not even after ten or twenty years. Some are swept away by the strong currents, some fall prey to eagles, hawks, kites, and owls, and others are netted, scooped up, or even shot with arrows by fishermen who line both banks of the falls ten
cho wide. Such is the difficulty a carp faces in becoming a dragon."
(The Writing of Nichiren Daishonin 1002)