JP-01 SPK (Signed)
Taiji Matsue
JP-01 SPK (Signed)
Photographs: Taiji Matsue
Text: Natsuki Ikezawa
Publisher: Akaaka Art Publishing
136 pages
Year: 2014
Price: 40 €
Comments: Hardcover, 263 x 185 mm. Obi kept aside attached to plastic film which protected the book. First edition, 2014. Text in english and in japanese. Signed by the photographer. Bumped to the corner.
What on earth are we doing as we're having this kind of visual experience?
To suddenly switch gears to ancient Japan, around the time that books like the Kojiki and Manyoshu were being written, there was a ceremony or activity known as kunimi (lit., "land viewing").
In spring just before planting started, people would decide on a day to assemble and head for a nearby mountain. They probably also brought along something to eat and drink. From this high place, they looked down on their own paddies and fields, and admired the scene. Happy to be fortunate enough to own such a good piece of land, they prayed for an abundant crop. Cultural anthropologists call this an "advance blessing."
Later, this became the responsibility of a local chieftain, who would recite a poem on such occasions. Yamato Takeru's farewell poem is one famous example:
Yamato wa kuni no mahoroba
Tatanazuku aogaki
Yamakomoreru yamatoshi uruwashi
Yamato, what a supreme land
Enclosed by verdant walls lining the surrounding hills
Great Yamato, unrivaled in its beauty
In fact, a kunimi poem that was recited on another occasion is thought to be embedded in this one.
For these people, looking was an act of praise, and looking at their land from a high place was a form of glorification and benediction.
After learning this, I understood the meaning concealed in this photo book.
――――Natsuki Ikezawa "Sky of Sapporo, Sky of the World"
more books by Taiji Matsue
-
JP-01 SPK (Signed)
by Taiji Matsue
sold -
Hysteric Glamour (SIGNED)
by Taiji Matsue
sold -
Hashima/ Gunkanjima (SIGNED)
by Taiji Matsue
sold -
JP-22 (SIGNED)
by Taiji Matsue
Euro 90 -
Tyo-Wtc (Signed)
by Taiji Matsue
Euro 45
more books tagged »japanese« | >> see all
-
Blind date (Signed)
by Lieko Shiga
sold -
Yagi no Hai/ Lungs of a goat
by Kenshichi Heshiki
sold -
PARIS 1989 (Signed)
by Koichi Inakoshi
sold -
Lips! Lips! Lips! (Signed and numbered copy/350)
by Daido Moriyama
sold -
The Dancers
by Itsuro Naraki
sold -
Shukei
by Nobuyoshi Araki
sold
more books tagged »Taiji Matsue« | >> see all
more books tagged »signed« | >> see all
-
Cell (signed)
by Daisuke Yokota
sold -
Until I break (SIGNED) (LAST COPY)
by Thomas Sing
sold -
The Promise (SIGNED)
by Vasantha Yogananthan
sold -
The knife cuts through the apple like a knife cutting an apple...
by Adam Etmanski
sold -
Am Boden/ By the Ground + Die Dämmerung/ At Dusk (Signed)
by Boris Mikhailov
sold -
The Afronauts (ONLY 50 COPIES WITH PRINT)
by Cristina de Middel
sold
more books tagged »landscape« | >> see all
-
Ende und Anfang (SIGNED)
by JH Engström
sold -
Lowlands
by Ester Vonplon
Euro 40 -
Concrete Abstraction
by Toshio Shibata
sold -
Nippon 2011 (SIGNED)
by Frédérick Carnet
Euro 45 -
From Tokyo to Kyoto (SIGNED)
by Marion Dubier-Clark
Euro 29 -
Death is not here
by Wouter Van de Voorde
sold
Books from the Virtual Bookshelf josefchladek.com