Akiyama Ryoji, Narakawa-mura

"Narakawa-mura," a collection of works by Japanese photographer Ryoji Akiyama, is a record of a small village in Kiso-gun, Nagano Prefecture, photographed over approximately two years. It captures the people and travelers living in Narakawa-mura, which prospered as a post town on the Nakasendo road and was known for Kiso lacquerware, with the perspective of a traveler and a quiet gaze.

In this book, the figures of children are particularly striking. Scenes from school sports days, school trips, and graduation ceremonies suggest that the village's time revolved around children. The gentle imagery, which avoids strong contrasts, does not impose the artist's expression but rather captures the atmosphere of the land itself.

Without relying on excessive staging or dramatic moments, this book calmly depicts human life within the continuous flow of daily routines. It is a document that quietly records the memories of a single village and represents another rich lineage of Japanese photography.

[Title] Narakawa-mura
[Publisher] Asahi Shimbun
[Publication Date] January 15, 1991 (First Edition)
[Page Count] Unpaginated (118 pages)
[Size] Approx. 213*259*13mm
[Format] Softcover
[Language] Japanese
[Title Reading] Narakawamura
[Author/Editor] Ryoji Akiyama/Author
[Printing] Toppan Printing/Printing, Aoki Bookbinding/Binding
[ISBN] 4022562528
[Condition] Used 【6】 Good to Fair (minor scuffs on obi and cover, light age-related yellowing on page edges)
[Accessories] Obi
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Ryoji Akiyama (1942-)

Born in Tokyo in 1942.
Son of photographer Seiji Akiyama. After graduating from Waseda University's Faculty of Letters, he worked for the Tokyo Bureau of the Associated Press and the photography department of the Asahi Shimbun before becoming a freelance photographer in 1967.

As a photojournalist, he covered social themes such as famine in India and depopulation on remote islands, while also traveling through the Americas, China, and various parts of Japan, publishing works that captured people's lives and landscapes with his unique sense of distance. In 1974, he exhibited alongside Daido Moriyama and Masahisa Fukase in the "New Japanese Photography" exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, earning international acclaim.

Using a 6x6 twin-lens reflex camera, he established his unique style, calmly observing subjects from a "traveler's perspective." His major works include "Tsugaru Ryoji Sensei Gyojoki" (1978), "New York Tsushin" (1980), "Narakawa-mura" (1991), and "Nara" (2006).

His works are held in collections at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, and the Aomori Museum of Art.
In recent years, the reprinting and re-editing of his "Nihao Xiaopengyou" series has garnered attention both domestically and internationally, leading to a re-evaluation of his work.

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