Kanji Mizutani’s previous book was published by Sokyusha as “Indigo”. The photographs in that book had a distinctive atmosphere, in combining fine detail whilst also being of very high contrast. The overall impression was extremely dark.

For this new book, this darkness has become even more powerful. Many of the photographs were taken in well-known parts of Japan. Yet the impression given is not of the beauty of this land, nor of order and affluence. Mizutani has revealed the ugliness and chaos that is still present in modern day Japan. It reminded me of Japan’s creation myth:
In the beginning was chaos and silence. Some time later there came sound and movement. The light moved more rapidly than the matter and rose to the top of the universe, while the matter condensed below it, into clouds, and into the high heavenly plain. The heaviest matter at the bottom formed a dense mass, which became the earth.

Mizutani has given us his take on Japan’s origins, its current reality and its ultimate fate.

*image (left)
© Kanji Mizutani
courtesy of the artist and Zen Foto Gallery