One of the origins of Japanese folklore study is considered to be a book entitled Tono Story written by Kunio Yanagida. This book was made from his collection of folklores spoken by Kizen Sasaki born in Tono area of Iwate Prefecture. It was published in 1910. I myself covered the same area more than 10 years from 1970 for my own series. In this series and Ba Ba Bakuhatsu(Grandma Explosion) series, I intensively adopted a flashlight system in many cases. Now the flashlight is quite common in shooting, but those days it was not such a convenient device with trouble caused by technical standards.
There is an unexpected, accidentally curious result when applying this device in photography. A vivid flashlight shows us an invisible world momentarily and gives us the chance to take a world beyond imagination. It inspired my intellectual curiosity enough. After the Tono Story series, I concentrated more on my study of folklore. In this exhibition, Naito Masatoshi presents four photographs from the series Show, five from the series Tono Story, and one from the series Tokyo as well as eight works from the series Ba Ba Bakuhatsu(Grandma Explosion). [Naito Masatoshi]
Show “Asakusa, Tokyo”, 1970s (photograph); 1988 (print). Gelatin silver print. 51 × 41 cm
Tono Story “Grave Maker of Kizen Sasaki”, “Festival of Rokkoushi Shrine, Tono, Iwate”, “Senda Family Altar related Komatsu Choja Millionaire Legend, Tono, Iwate”, “Image of the Dead, Komyoji, Tono, Iwate”, “Aged Women at Senile Club, Tono, Iwate”, 1970s (photograph); 1988 (print). Gelatin silver print. 51 × 41 cm each
Tokyo “Memorial Service, Arakawa, Tokyo”, 1970s (photograph); 1988 (print). Gelatin silver print. 52 × 41 cm
Courtesy of the artist
