中山博喜『BORODINO』
Book Design：大西正一
発行：赤々舎
Size：H188mm x W262mm
Page：80 pages
Binding：Hardcover
Published in September 2025
ISBN：978-4-86541-209-3
¥ 4,500＋tax
国内送料無料！
About Book
移民の歴史が息づく島、南大東島。水、緑、人の循環。
『中山博喜による写真集『BORODINO』は、那覇空港からプロペラ機で約1時間、太平洋に浮かぶ絶海の孤島・南大東島を舞台に制作されたシリーズである。
南大東島に人が住み始めたのは、今からおよそ130年前。島の人口は長らく、大きく増減することなく、1000人前後を保ち続けてきた。
この島には高校がなく、進学のためには誰もが一度、島を離れなければならない。にもかかわらず人口が変わらないということは、出ていく人と同じ数だけ、島に入ってくる人がいるということを意味している。
なぜ、絶海の孤島で、そのような循環が成立しているのか。
その理由を紐解くために、著者はカメラを携え、島を歩き、島の時間に身を委ねた。
そこで出会ったのが、島に最初に上陸した23名の開拓団が発見した「水」の存在だった。
淡水池という希少な恵みが、この島での暮らしを可能にし、人々の営みを支えてきた。現在では、その水は島内の水耕栽培施設にも受け継がれ、野菜を育て、生活を循環させている。
移民の歴史、水の発見と循環、濃密な緑の奥行き。
それらに静かに触れながら、本作は「必要な分だけを受け取り、豊かに生きる」という、島に息づく「ほどほど」の精神を浮かび上がらせていく。
中山は、前作『水を招く』では、中村哲医師とともにアフガニスタンの地で、水と人間の関係を見つめてきた記録を著した。本作『BORODINO』は、その視線を日本の南端へと移しながら、水と土地、そして人の営みを、長い視座で捉え直し、確かな手触りで写し取った一冊である。
「BORODINO」という名は、島に最初に与えられた外部の呼称である。1820年にロシア海軍の軍艦「ボロジノ号」によって発見され、その艦戦の名をとって地図に記されたときから、島は世界と接続された。本作は、その長い時間の層を踏まえながら、いまも続く島の呼吸を伝えている。
BORODINO
Hiroki Nakayama
In 1820, the Russian Navy vessel Borodino discovered the Daitō Islands, and in early twentieth-century Western maps, they appeared as “Borodino Island,” named after that very ship. Yet some four hundred kilometers away in Okinawa, the islands had been known since the fifteenth century Ryukyu Kingdom as Ufuagari-jima–the “island at the farthest reaches of the east.”
It was at my wife’s suggestion–she had visited before me–that I finally set foot on Minami-Daitō, one of these islands. Everything about the place was singular: its geography, its flora, its history. Each element carried a distinct presence, and together they created an overwhelming atmosphere that struck me deeply. I remember losing myself in that sensation, taking photographs almost in a trance.
There are countless ways to describe the island’s appeal, but for me, what stood out most was the “return rate”–the way so many people who leave the island eventually come back. It seemed both its greatest charm and its most puzzling mystery. As I spoke with the islanders and glimpsed their daily lives, a single word rose in my mind: moderation. It was the very word I often heard from Dr. Tetsu Nakamura, who led the aid organization Peshawar-kai during my years as a field worker in Pakistan and Afghanistan. We humans are part of nature itself. At times we confront it, at times we rejoice in its gifts. To live richly, we must take only what is necessary–no more, no less, always in moderation. I could not help but feel that this way of life was deeply rooted in the island.
Why had such an ethos taken hold here? Perhaps because Minami-Daitō, often called a remote island at the edge of the sea, continually forces its people to confront the essence of what it means to live as a creature among creatures. The island was born off the coast of New Guinea nearly three thousand kilometers away, drifting for over forty million years, rising and sinking before reaching its present place. In that immense span of time, it stored within itself the one thing people need most to survive: water. When the first twenty-three settlers landed, they discovered this hidden water, rejoiced–“We can live here!”–and that primal sense of happiness, I believe, still breathes throughout the island.
Yet life here has never been simple. The soil, the relentless winds, and the pounding waves make farming a constant struggle. On my first visit, most vegetables for sale had been shipped from Okinawa’s main island. But on my return I learned of a hydroponic facility now producing fresh greens locally, and I was invited to see it for myself. “Now we can serve vegetables to the children at every school lunch,” said Hiroshi-anī, his face bright with pride. The vegetables, grown in just the right amounts for the island’s needs, were tender and brimming with life. They seemed to embody the spirit of Minami-Daitō itself–abundant precisely because they were cultivated in moderation.
Artist Information
中山 博喜
福岡生まれ。大学卒業後5年間にわたり、NGO団体・ペシャワール会の現地ワーカーとして活動に参加。活動の傍ら、パキスタン、アフガニスタンの日常を撮影する。帰国後は撮りためた写真を個展などで発表するとともに、色彩をテーマとしたカラー作品の制作を行っている。著書に「水を招く」（赤々舎）。京都芸術大学教授。
Hiroki Nakayama
Born in Fukuoka, a photographer and Professor at Kyoto University of the Arts. After graduating from university,He spent five years as a field worker with the Japanese NGO Peshawar-kai; alongside this work, the artist photographed everyday life in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Upon returning to Japan, He presented these photographs in solo exhibitions and has continued to produce color-focused projects. He published Lead the Water (AKAAKA, 2019).
