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Written at the end of the 17th century, Matsuo Basho’s travel journal “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” about the poet’s journey to the north of Japan remains one of the most influential and inspiring pieces of Japanese literature.
Following his admiration for Basho and finding himself at a similar stage in his life, the Japanese photographer Yasuhiro Ogawa set out on his own journey to the north. Where Basho traveled on foot, Ogawa chose trains; while Basho recorded his thoughts in writing, Ogawa took photographs. His photobook “Into the Silence” traces the course of Ogawa’s travels in images of places (cold, empty streets; train cars; townscapes at night; snow-covered train tracks; fields seen through windows) and moments (a child drawing shapes in the condensation on a window; a cat peering through an opening in a wall; the intricate shapes of a scarf wrapped around a girl’s neck on a bus). Ogawa’s images lean toward darkness, so much so that at times his subjects seem to emerge from the black. Rich in mood and atmosphere, his own story of the north is about depopulation and economic decline, loneliness and the inhospitality of life, and the resilience of hope and beauty.
Yasuhiro Ogawa’s “Into The Silence” includes a foreword by the artist and an afterword by Blue Lotus Gallery director Sarah Green (all text included in Japanese and English).

“In many ways, Ogawa’s photobook is a continuation of Basho’s journey. Both men sought to explore and capture the essence of this little-known region, and both found inspiration in the beauty and challenges of the road. While times have changed, and the region has undergone significant transformation, the enduring mystique of the interior of Japan lives on. Through ‘Into The Silence,’ Yasuhiro Ogawa offers a glimpse into this world, and like Basho will inspire generations of poets and travelers, both in Japan and around the world.”