The series “View of Remembrance” became Ōnishi’s artistic mark. It was thinly diluted in water lapis lazuli pigment mixed with animal glue and egg yolk.
The landscape floats out of the depths of an early morning mist or fog during the seasonal change. Monochromic blue in its turn gives no clear indication of the seasonality. The landscape goes beyond the terrestrial and exists in a realm of endless space and absolute harmony. The sight of a sky through the tree’s crown is an image that one can visualize while meditating. The underlying pasty layer of tree twigs and pine needles recalls a look of branching capillary network. The thin paint layer above it gives an effect of a printed or woven surface.
This series reminds of the prominent folding screen (byōbu) from the late 16th century by Hasegawa Tohaku, depicting a view of pine trees in the mist or the work “Fallen Leaves” (1909) by Hishida Shunsō.
In 2007 Ōnishi and his colleagues from the faculty went even further and developed an innovative technique of lapis glaze for the ceramics and other tea ceremony utensils, created on the occasion of the 120th Anniversary of Tokyo Geidai.
In 2010 Ōnishi received a commission by the main priest of the Nanzen-ji in Kyoto, famous Zen Temple, to re-paint the 500 year old fusuma-e of the Tenjuan Temple in his lapis-lazuli technique. This work comprised 73 fusuma-e (paintings on sliding doors). He was able to complete 12 fusuma-e before his sudden decease in 2011.