SUDIRU

Keisho Okamoto, Daichiro Shinjo

Keisho Okamoto (1937-2024) was a Zen monk deeply rooted in Miyako Island and one of the earliest folklorists to undertake the study of Okinawan folklore. Beginning in the latter half of the 1960s, before the reversion of Okinawa to Japan, he conducted extensive fieldwork primarily in the village of Karimata, delving into the folk culture of the region under the influence of leading Japanese scholars such as Kunio Yanagita, Shinobu Orikuchi, and Kitaro Nishida.

This book compiles photographs taken by Okamoto between the late 1960s and late 1970s as part of his practice of folklore as local studies. His lens captured the rituals and ceremonies of Karimata, Shimajiri, Ikema Island, Nishihara, Kurima Island, and Sunagawa. What emerges from these images transcends their role as research materials: they are unembellished portrayals of people expressing gratitude to the gods and to nature, deeply immersed in prayer. As Okamoto was not a professional photographer, his images project a reality free from artistic manipulation, offering a raw and intimate perspective on these sacred moments.

The book also presents works by Daichiro Arashiro, who overlays Okamoto's photographs with layers of indigo and ink, layering the present over the past to create a space for rebirth. Following Okamoto's passing, his invaluable academic materials--including photographs, notebooks, audio recordings, and artifacts--were continuously preserved by his grandson, Arashiro. The past recorded by Okamoto intersects with the present lived by Arashiro, resurrecting the photographs into the contemporary world and forging a dialogue across time. Furthermore, the academic perspective titled "Okamoto's Approach to the Study of Folklore" by folklorist Takanori Shimamura and the contribution by photographer Naoki Ishikawa add depth to this exploration of cultural continuity and transformation.

The title, "Sudiru," is a word from the Miyako language meaning "rebirth" or "resurrection." Through the dialogue between Keisho Okamoto and Daichiro Arashiro, this book invites us to reflect on our roots and poses questions to a world where diverse cultures and values intersect, offering a new perspective on the present.

"Folkloric turning. This is precisely what Shinjo is attempting with this book. Okamoto's folklore studies acquire an entirely new form of expression through their connection and fusion with the works of contemporary calligrapher Daichiro Shinjo." 

Takanori Shimamura

"Just as Atget's photographs were discovered by Berenice Abbott and the value of Tsuneichi Miyamoto's photographs was reappraised by Daido Moriyama, Keisho Okamoto's photographs stand tall as a monument to the photographic record and memory due to the efforts of his grandson, Daichiro Shinjo. It gives me great pleasure that the photographs of Keisho Okamoto, which touched my heart five years ago, have stood the test of time and will be released in the form of a photobook." 

Naoki Ishikawa

"Originally, the photographs were not supposed to be made public. But from the instant my grandfather pressed the shutter, through the long and involved process that culminated in their presentation in this expressive form in our time, there is great significance. As I confront these images, the sense of glimpsing my own "roots" fills me with energy and vitality. It seems as if a single thread for expressing the present moment is strongly tied to each of the photographs. Mysticism, curiosities, rarity-these are of no importance. As I continue to engage with the foundation of my being, it seems that I am tracing a path back to my umbilical cord that gives me a sensation of subdued excitement within my heart.What appear in the photographs are not artificial performances but simply the authentic and unpretentious appearances of people who are naturally expressing gratitude to the gods and to nature."

Daichiro Shinjo

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HIMAWARI

Makoto Yasumori

"What on earth are human beings doing?"

On August 9, 2006, at the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony to pray for the re- pose of atomic bomb victims, Itcho Ito, the mayor of Nagasaki at the time, began his Peace Declaration to the world by expressing his anger and frustration over the fact that nuclear weapons had still not been eliminated from the world. I am the son of Itcho Ito's cousin. I was deeply moved as I listened to him deliver his Peace Dec- laration on the television. I felt so proud of him and looked forward to great things from him in the future.

I became clearly aware of Itcho Ito when I was in elementary school. At the time, I had the impression of him as being a big man who was cheerful and energetic. He loved sunflowers that bloom turned toward the sun. He was someone whose presence brightened everything around him. His first name was Kazunaga, but people always affectionately called him Itcho-san.[...]

Through slow and steady effort and with "no political base, no name recognition, and no financial backing" Itcho Ito gained increasing public support. He was elected to the Nagasaki City Council and later advanced to the Nagasaki Prefectural Assem- bly. Then in 1995, he ran in the election to become mayor of Nagasaki, a dream he had held since elementary school.

On the day they counted the votes I was in high school then I clearly recall watching the election coverage at home on the television with my family. All of us were silently praying that he would win. At the breaking news that Itcho Ito was the projected winner, my father raised both hands repeatedly, each time shouting Banzai! Banzai! in an explosion of joy that I had never seen in him before. Witnessing that scene of triumph shook me to the soul. I think this was the moment when I inherit- ed the desire of my father and family to support the politician Itcho Ito.

Then twelve years later, on April 17, 2007, during his bid for a fourth term in the Nagasaki mayoral election, when Itcho Ito returned from campaigning to his cam- paign headquarters in Daikokumachi, Nagasaki at 7:50 p.m., he was shot in the back by a man belonging to a crime syndicate. On hearing the news, I trembled un- controllably, tears flowed, I began to sweat, I cried so hard that my nose ran, it was hard to breath, blood oozed from my clenched lips, and I felt faint.

What happened? Why? Please don't die! were some of the thoughts that raced through my mind. I drove through the night to the Ito family's grave where I put my hands together and prayed desperately. My prayers went unanswered. At around 2:30 in the middle of the night of April 18, Itcho Ito passed away.

The incident was reported every day in newspapers and on television for many days afterward. New reports had always seemed to me to be simply a flow of words and images, but news of this incident that was so close to home felt like a terrible weapon gouging into my heart. For a while, I was tormented with despair just seeing those news reports and left unable to do anything for days.

All I can do is take photographs. But I know from experience that photographs can become a weapon, so in consideration of the feelings of the bereaved family I felt that it was wrong to photograph this overwhelming happening.

Years later something occurred to change how I felt.

Every year on April 17, a platform was set up for people to offer flowers at the site of the incident. In 2019, on the 13th anniversary of Itcho Ito's death, it was decided that the platform would no longer be set up. It was then when I began to fear that the memories of Itcho Ito and the significance of the incident would inevitable fade away. After struggling with my reluctance to photograph anything connected with the incident, in the end I became strongly resolved to preserve Itcho Ito's memory through photographs.

I went to Itcho Ito's family members and others close to him who had been his long-standing supporters to tell them about how I felt and to hear their stories about him.

When I had the chance at various times during the COVID-19 pandemic, I visited each of their homes to hear their thoughts on the incident and about the kind of person they perceived Itcho Ito to be. They were all unanimous in saying that they didn't understand why the incident had happened. They also talked of Itcho's aura as a politician and that they had expected he would continue to be even more successful in his efforts.

The incident not only crushed the hopes of the many people who supported this one politician; it also disrupted their everyday lives. Regardless of the reason, taking someone's life is never justified.

As I was photographing the people who had supported Itcho Ito and scenes of daily life in Nagasaki, I carried the hope that no one would have to experience such sad- ness again and that everyone could live their lives in peace. When I spoke to people in the city while taking photographs and they would cheerfully answer yoka to yo, meaning it's okay, it made me feel happy. With each photograph I took, I thought what a great city it is, but at the same time my perplexity deepened about why such an incident had happened here.

Even as I proceeded with this photography project, there was no end to tragic events in the world. Every time I watched such news reports, I wondered. What is the point of continuing to appeal to the public to eliminate violence?! Couldn't such tragedies have been stopped? No matter how much society may advance, it is meaningless without advancement on an individual level.

I am heavily concerned that facts and lessons we must not forget will sink into oblivion. I don't want them to fade away. They must not be allowed to fade away. I want to preserve the memories through photographs.

This is the moment I wish to make an appeal borrowing the words of Itcho Ito. "What on earth are human beings doing?"

I pray that this photograph collection serves as a catalyst for reflecting on that question.

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Ku - Free Essence- 

Niyoko Ikuta

"Ikuta Niyoko has made glass her chosen medium, and fully embraced its unique properties of transparency and substantiality, which allow light to pass through while still asserting the presence of the material. In recent years in particular, viewers of Ikuta's new works find themselves immersed in swirls of light produced by countless layers of this transparent substance, as if bathed in a glittering, luminous melody. The effect transcends mere visual perception, conveying a mystical worldview. Ikuta's glass works manifest a dreamlike realm that invites comparisons to visionary experiences.There is an uncanny sense of differentiation from the everyday, an effect that speaks to the age-old relationship between glass and humankind. This magical force casts a spell on the human spirit, making viewers feel as if they are part of an illusion, reveling in the luminous spectacle emitted by these transparent objects as if experiencing hallucinations. Put another way, Ikuta's glass works are imbued with a system that manifests miraculous phenomena, extending beyond her personal artistic vision into the universal. 

"Art does not reproduce the visible but makes visible." This famous line opens Paul Klee's essay "Creative Credo." It encapsulates the ways in which artists, including Klee himself, use lines to visualize images in their minds and then "make visible" the images they conceive on physical surfaces. Meanwhile, sculptors might imagine 3D lines in space and then render them visible using pliable materials such as clay. In contrast, Ikuta Niyoko envisions not physical objects constructed from layered sheets of glass, her chosen material, but rather the light continuously transmitted through the highly transparent substance, creating images unlike those traditionally envisioned by painters and sculptors. The elements within her control are limited, and mastering the luminous images emanated by her objects has undoubtedly been an arduous journey. [...]

The primary structures of the works in this series are arcs and rings. Swirls of light emerging from the Ku works engender infinite variations as the viewer's perspective shifts, maintaining an ever-changing melody of light that captures the unique spirit of the artist. In Japanese Ku is written with the kanji character 空, which can also signify the sky or heavens, evoking an interface between the everyday spaces where people live and the scale of the cosmos, which is so vast, spanning billions of light-years, that it can only be grasped conceptually. Essentially, Ku implies a realm where this world and the transcendent intersect. It also connects to the fundamental Buddhist principle of "Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form," representing an infinitely malleable state in which "all things lack a permanent and unchanging essence." Ikuta's titling her work Ku suggests that she aims to open up a vast, void-like realm anchored in this fundamental concept, wherein her works spontaneously play luminous melodies. This is the state that Ikuta Niyoko's works have now reached."

Excerpts from the text "Making Luminous Melodies Visible: On the Works of Ikuta Niyoko"

by  Nakai Yasuyuki（Art Critic Visiting Professor, Graduate School of Kyoto University of Arts）

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"A greater chance of development might be found in those free shapes which gain their tension from a certain contradiction between their outer appearance and their inner structure. For their shape seems to be the result of excising parts from a solid block and thus revealing its different layers--i.e. the method of a sculptor in the strictest sense of the word--though actually it is created by putting single elements together. Niyoko Ikuta's sculptures can be understood as models, as cartographical descriptions of ideal, perfect shapes which can only approximately be translated into reality. Her work combines sculpture and graphics and goes beyond the traditional boundaries of artistic genres.

Niyoko Ikuta is, in my opinion, one of the most important avant-garde glass artists in Japan today. Within a few years, she has succeeded in creating a unique, individual style, which uses glass in a way suitable to the spirit of our time. Her glass sculptures are statements about reality, conscious of the fact that such statements can only be preliminary."

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The radiant Ku series is said to reflect various mental states. There is a world only visible with the eyes closed, and the works are a reflecting pool revealing this world.

Ikuta Niyoko is an artist I truly revere, and the life and spirit of this extraordinary artist are reflected in her glass creations."

Excerpts from the text "What Lies Withint"

by Aoyama Wahei

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"Ku (which variously translates to "space," "the sky," or "emptiness," and is the title of my series called Free Essence in English) has become the beacon of my existence.

With each moment and each work I complete, my sense of being alive intensifies. I feel it was my destiny, after four decades of producing a wide range of works, to arrive at Ku.

Now, I am dedicated to cherishing each moment and living the time remaining to me as fully as possible."

Excerpts from the text "Trajectory of the light"

by Niyoko Ikut

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