Satoru IWAMOTO

"Retreat"

Pages: 60 / photos: 42
Size: 232x207x12mm / hardcover
Price: 2,940JPY
Release Date: January 2012

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One cold winter day, I was in a ravine in Shizuoka Prefecture. I arrived at ten o'clock in the evening. The fifty Noh plays that were to be performed throughout the night from moonrise to sunrise had already begun, with few spectators. As I watched the programs steadily proceed. I realized that I had forgotten to bring my strobe light. I was rather tired from the trip, so instead of taking photos, I sat down some distance away from the stage and just listened to the reverberating drums and the sound of the flute. After a while, my hands and feet grew numb from cold so that I could no longer sit still. I saw the spectators all gathered around a flaming torch that kindled near the stage. I went as close to the torch as I could to warm my body. Then I had to stop because my face grew burning hot. Because my body was in between the heat and the cold, I was stuck in that position. I perceived a similar sensation when I took photos at other sites, such as Shinto rituals or ethnic events. Just as I could not take a further step forward to be right by the raging torch and the Noh stage that night, I always end up maintaining a certain distance from my photographic subjects and have difficulty bringing myself any closer than that distance.

(Excerpts from the author's postscript)