Myojo

Name: Myojo
Brand: 川島小鳥 / KAWASHIMA Kotori
Price: 3800 JPY
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Myojo is a photobook by Kotori Kawashima. From 2011 to 2014, after the publication of his previous work Mirai-chan, Kawashima visited Taiwan over 30 times for approximately three years, and this book compiles over 200 photographs from about 70,000 taken during that period. It was published by Nanarokusha in 2014 and received the 40th Kimura Ihei Award in 2015.

The photographs capture people Kawashima met in Taiwan, animals, cityscapes, food, and scenes from everyday life. Unlike Mirai-chan, which focused on specific individuals, Myojo features many different people and places appearing one after another, each independent yet connected within the book. Kawashima himself stated that he envisioned a book similar to Urusei Yatsura during its creation.

The book's binding is also a significant feature. Vertical photographs are bound as portrait-oriented pages, and horizontal photographs as landscape-oriented pages, each trimmed to the same size. Based on a dummy book created by Kawashima, Akira Sasaki handled the design. The printing by San-Em Color and binding by Shinohara Paper Co. involved repeated prototyping by the photographer, editor, designer, and printing/binding teams to bring the book to fruition.

The obi (book band) includes an original poem by Shuntaro Tanikawa. This collection allows readers to experience the three years spent in Taiwan and the closeness to its people, not only through the photographs but also through the very form of the book itself.

[Title] Myojo
[Publisher] Nanarokusha
[Publication Date] December 24, 2014 (First Edition, First Printing)
[Page Count] 240 pages
[Size] Approx. 248 x 241 x 26mm / 905g
[Format] Hardcover
[Language] Japanese
[Title Reading] MYOJYO
[Author/Editor, etc.] Kotori Kawashima / Photographs, Shuntaro Tanikawa / Poem, Akira Sasaki / Design, Michiko Sakashita / Editing
[Printing/Binding] San-Em Color / Printing, Shinohara Paper Co. / Binding
[ISBN] 9784904292549
[Condition] Used [7] Very Good (Obi: slightly creased)
[Accessories] Obi, extras (1 postcard, 3 cards)
[Featured in] -
[Related Exhibition] -
[Award] 40th Kimura Ihei Award

Kotori Kawashima (b. 1980)

Born in Tokyo in 1980. Photographer.

Graduated from Waseda University, School of Letters, Arts and Sciences I, French Literature Department. Studied under Genki Numata.

In 2011, published the photobook Mirai-chan through Nanarokusha. In the same year, BABY BABY was reissued. After the publication of Mirai-chan, he visited Taiwan for about three years from 2011 and published the photobook Myojo in 2014. The following year, in 2015, he received the 40th Kimura Ihei Award for this work.

In 2017, he held a solo exhibition "Kotori Kawashima Exhibition: Playing on the Borderline" at the Kanazu Forest of Creation in Fukui. He continues to photograph the distance between people and small everyday events with an intimate gaze.