Down to the Bone

Name: Down to the Bone
Brand: 甲斐啓二郎 / KAI Keijiro
Price: 3800 JPY
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A photobook by Keijiro Kai, titled "Down to the Bone." It features a series of photographs taken from 2012 to 2018, documenting five festivals in England, Bolivia, Georgia, and various parts of Japan. Published by Shinjuku Shobo in 2020.

The book includes Ashbourne's Shrovetide Football, the Takenouchi festival in Misato Town, Akita Prefecture, Bolivia's Tinku in Macha, Georgia's Lelo in Shukhuti, and the Dosojin Fire Festival in Nozawa Onsen Village, Nagano Prefecture. All of these are festivals involving intense physical contact between people, and Kai continued to photograph them from within the midst of the action.

Instead of providing an overview of the festivals, the photographs show a continuous succession of pushing bodies, sweat, steam, dust, and the faces and limbs of surging crowds. During the initial Shrovetide Football shoot, Kai noted that upon reviewing the photos after returning home, many scenes were so indistinct that it was impossible to tell what was happening, "not at all like a record of football." This ambiguity led to the question of where the energy driving these people came from, inspiring him to continue photographing subsequent festivals.

The end of the book includes an essay by philosopher Kazuyoshi Kondo, a dialogue with Akutagawa Prize-winning author Yuka Ishii, and an overview of each festival along with an afterword by Kai himself. The photobook "Down to the Bone" received the 20th Sagamihara Photo Award, and the photo exhibition of the same series received the 45th Ihei Kimura Award. This item is signed by Keijiro Kai.

[Title] 骨の髄 / Down to the Bone
[Publisher] Shinjuku Shobo
[Publication Date] March 20, 2020 (First Edition, First Printing)
[Page Count] 132 pages
[Size] Approx. 267 x 257 x 20 mm / 1010g
[Format] Hardcover
[Language] Japanese, English
[Title Pronunciation] HONE NO ZUI
[Author/Editor, etc.] Keijiro Kai / Photographs, Kazuyoshi Kondo / Commentary, Yuka Ishii / Dialogue, Kazushi Suzuki・Yuki Yoshimi / Book Design, Shigeru Nishikawa / Digitization, Stefan Wüthrich / English Translation
[Printing/Binding] Koyosha / Printing・Binding
[ISBN] 9784880084817
[Condition] Used, Signed [8] Excellent to Very Good
[Accessories] Obi (belly band)
[Featured in] -
[Related Exhibitions] "Down to the Bone" Nikon Salon Ginza, August 26 – September 8, 2020 / "Down to the Bone" KYOTOGRAPHIE Kyoto International Photography Festival, 2025
[Awards] 20th Sagamihara Photo Award / 45th Ihei Kimura Award
[Country of Print] Japan

Keijiro Kai (b. 1974)

Born in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1974. Photographer.

Graduated from Nihon University, College of Science and Technology, Department of Oceanic Architecture and Engineering in 1997. Graduated from Tokyo College of Photography in 2002. Part-time lecturer at Tokyo College of Photography.

He photographs combative physical rituals that have continued around the world since before the modern concept of sports emerged. Instead of documenting festivals from the outside, he immerses himself within them, placing himself in spaces where people's bodies are densely packed, pushing and clashing, and continues his work.

In 2016, his exhibitions "Wounded Bear" and "Down to the Bone" received the 28th Photography Society of Japan Award. In 2020, his photobook "Down to the Bone" received the 20th Sagamihara Photo Award, and in 2021, the photo exhibition of the same series received the 45th Ihei Kimura Award. In 2025, he will hold a solo exhibition "Down to the Bone" at KYOTOGRAPHIE Kyoto International Photography Festival.

His major photobooks include "Shrove Tuesday" (2013), "Wounded Bear" (2016), "Down to the Bone" (2020), "Kira no Haregi" (2023), and "Ashes to Ashes" (2025).