This piece is dedicated to the memory of the great pioneering Butoh dancer, Kazuo Ohno. The poems, by Ohno’s friend Eiko Sadamatsu, speak of the man’s universal qualities, using images of space, shadow, light, and the idea of the infinite. I took these images as my main inspiration for the musical structure, responding to each image in turn – sometimes abstractly, sometimes with word painting – resulting in an episodic structure linked together by a few recurring motifs. The delicate biwa and sho soundworld is ideally suited to express this mournful yet celebratory space between light and shadow, life and death. Both are restricted in terms of range and sound projection, yet, as often happens in composition, the greater the restrictions, the greater the scope for a creative response. I can only hope my response lives up to the poetry of the text, and the artistry of the man who inspired the piece.