John Hathway

Check out the __[Feature Page](https://async.art/featured/blockchain-rakuchu-rakugaizu)__ to see the artwork with all of the Layers turned on, and learn more about the free Folding Screen NFT gift!

This piece was created in the likeness of the streets of Kyoto on a folding screen that’s the abstraction of the blockchain, created in the early days of blockchain technology.

Blockchain’s true nature is a new system that is decentralized. It’s created from a combination including irreversible hash functions, miners, nodes, and chains for a trustworthy system.

The creator believed that the power of the system “is like a bunch of new, invisible hands of gods that were born from the common consciousness based on the trust between humans.”  The gods that keep the blockchain system intact isn’t a single god, but the many blockchain tokens, making it similar to the millions of spirits in Shinto. The basis of blockchain was created by people, but ideally, blockchain itself cannot be directly controlled by humans. (Though it might be possible if the system is imperfect.) The girl who is depicted on a large scale in this art is not a god, but rather a being like a future shrine maiden that can be used by god.

Humanity can’t access the system directly, but they can connect to the system through the shrine maiden. Because of the maiden, the system is governed throughout the city, but there are also places outside that are not under the system. In order to make it obvious that this space is stateless, the buildings in the art are from all around the world. The shrine maiden’s appearance suggests that she is Japanese, just like the founder of blockchain, but her hair is pink, a color not found in nature, as well to imply statelessness. The general idea (god) of the ideal blockchain is firm, but its history is still quite short, so the shrine maiden is still a young, immature teenager doing this as a part-time job. She may make mistakes when the processes can’t be dealt with on the chain. Miners use cranes to maintain the basic structure of the system. They’re not working because of the orders to do that; instead they are private general contractors doing it for profit. The various cryptocurrencies and tokens are concealed in the system’s space like clouds, but that’s just all they are, and they represent the essence of the system itself. Exchanges in shops are transactions. At the time, on the web, the systems were different for the regular web and the blockchain web even though it was the same web. The blockchain web had practical use for cryptocurrency through the reliable demand, but after that the system was put in use in a wide variety of fields like entertainment and art, so the soul of the system was created within the virtual space of the web just like the Milky Way runs through the galaxy.

Blockchain Rakuchu Rakugai-zu

This piece was created in the likeness of the streets of Kyoto on a folding screen that’s the abstraction of the blockchain, created in the early days of blockchain technology.

Blockchain’s true nature is a new system that is decentralized. It’s created from a combination including irreversible hash functions, miners, nodes, and chains for a trustworthy system.

The creator believed that the power of the system “is like a bunch of new, invisible hands of gods that were born from the common consciousness based on the trust between humans.”  The gods that keep the blockchain system intact isn’t a single god, but the many blockchain tokens, making it similar to the millions of spirits in Shinto. The basis of blockchain was created by people, but ideally, blockchain itself cannot be directly controlled by humans. (Though it might be possible if the system is imperfect.) The girl who is depicted on a large scale in this art is not a god, but rather a being like a future shrine maiden that can be used by god.

Humanity can’t access the system directly, but they can connect to the system through the shrine maiden. Because of the maiden, the system is governed throughout the city, but there are also places outside that are not under the system. In order to make it obvious that this space is stateless, the buildings in the art are from all around the world. The shrine maiden’s appearance suggests that she is Japanese, just like the founder of blockchain, but her hair is pink, a color not found in nature, as well to imply statelessness. The general idea (god) of the ideal blockchain is firm, but its history is still quite short, so the shrine maiden is still a young, immature teenager doing this as a part-time job. She may make mistakes when the processes can’t be dealt with on the chain. Miners use cranes to maintain the basic structure of the system. They’re not working because of the orders to do that; instead they are private general contractors doing it for profit. The various cryptocurrencies and tokens are concealed in the system’s space like clouds, but that’s just all they are, and they represent the essence of the system itself. Exchanges in shops are transactions. At the time, on the web, the systems were different for the regular web and the blockchain web even though it was the same web. The blockchain web had practical use for cryptocurrency through the reliable demand, but after that the system was put in use in a wide variety of fields like entertainment and art, so the soul of the system was created within the virtual space of the web just like the Milky Way runs through the galaxy.

There are some Kyoto-style bridges in the digital world. They’re in no country and every country at the same time.

Digital Kyoto Bridge