shashasha

Following his previous photobooks that focused on the subjects of agriculture and rivers, with “Hikari no Chikei” (lit. “Topography of Light”), Japanese photographer Kentaro Kumon presents a visually stunning photographic documentation of Japan’s peninsulas.

After the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, Kumon decided to engage Japan’s many regions through the medium of photography to learn more about his home-country. As an island country surrounded by sea, peninsulas used to be economic and cultural centers yet lost their importance to the larger cities inland. In his thickly colored, bold and almost tactile photographs, Kumon explores life on the half-islands of the Cape Sada Peninsula in Ehime, the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa, the Shimabara Peninsula in Nagasaki, the Kii Peninsula in Wakayama and Mie, the Satsuma Peninsula in Kagoshima, the Shimokita Peninsula in Aomori, the Oga Peninsula in Akita, and the Kameda Peninsula on Hokkaido, loosely focusing on specific themes and subjects in each location.

“A concrete pier eroded and rounded by waves. The wooden stakes which once may have been used to moor ships are now broken and about to be washed away with each wave. Waves beat the abandoned fishing port. Despite its almost scary roughness, I cannot help but be fascinated by the beautiful blue of the rising waves.” (from Kentaro Kumon’s afterword)

All text included in Japanese and in English translation.