A full moon reflects a swath of light on a still ocean. Matsubara’s scene evokes the Buddhist allegory of a narrow white path that guides you away from earthly temptations to a place of spiritual awakening. The dark blue and black of Matusbara’s palette emphasize the gold leaf of the halo, representing the moon, and of the luminous moonpath. In the painting’s foreground, the waves gently lap along the shore. The Sound series began in 1981, when Matsubara visited his brother's temple in Imajo, Fukui prefecture, and began working with the circle motif, marveling at its cyclical perfection. The series's namesake draws from the mesmerizing sound he first heard in the temple, which continues to guide today's work just as it has for close to three decades. The significance of the sound presented with the circle motif is that Matsubara draws circle motifs in the background of almost all paintings.