Miki to Moheno no shozo (Portrait of Miki and Moheno)

In a recent conversation Kinutani dates this painting to about 1979 when he returned from a trip to Italy and painted it along with a companion piece Portrait of Monica. He describes the background of the painting as a tapestry of equestrian hunters who symbolize a peripatetic culture unlike the sedentary agricultural society of Japan. The tapestry's underlying motif is a battle between East and West. Since the hunters travel with their sheep, a food source, they manage the risk of constant movement. The Chinese characters for sheep and beauty are similar and signify to the artist that beauty, like sheep in the hunters' world, can help people live their lives.

Miki is professing her love to a bust of Moheno (Heno-Heno Moheji), a popular cartoon character drawn with letters of the Japanese syllabary. The letter he forms the brows, no the eyes, mo the nose, and ji the contour of the face. Here these characters both form and decorate the image. According to Kinutani who sculpted the bust shown in the painting, the artist himself is Moheno, stationary in one place.