Imamori Mitsuhiko

Satoyama
Harmony with Nature and Resilience in JapanTokyo Photographic Art Museum is delighted to present Satoyama: Harmony with Nature andResilience in Japan, an exhibition of the work of the nature photographer Imamori Mitsuhiko. Imamoricontinues to present beautiful images and approachable texts on the topic of the relationships
between nature and human beings, from tropical rainforests and deserts around the world to naturalenvironments in Japan.
Imamori, who has been fascinated by the ecologies and beauty of insects since he was a little boy,has energetically photographed insects throughout the world. His work, rooted in his distinctive viewof nature, unconstrained by conventional nature photography, is highly regarded in Japan and abroad.
In addition, he has focused on the spaces called satoyama, principally in his home area around Lake
Biwa, and captured images of satoyama and their subtle balance between nature and humanity. This
exhibition presents the newest work from his series, introducing selected works from his
photographs of the more than 200 satoyama that he has encountered throughout Japan so far.
Imamori’s satoyama travels vividly evoke spaces in which nature and human beings are in harmony
and make us aware of this country’s natural environment, beautiful and rich in diversity. Satoyama:Harmony with Nature and Resilience in Japan reveals a full picture of the satoyama series, Imamori
Mitsuhiko’s life work.

1

Morning mist at terraced fields, Toka-machi, Niigata prefecture 2010

“When I thought back on the dozen years or so of my satoyama pilgrimage, I realized that whenlooking at a landscape, I defined a check point for myself. For example, tanada, terraced fields orterraced rice paddies, are the exemplary environment, the space that is the prototype for mysatoyama story. They are essential. They are not important merely as farmland that connects themountains with human habitation. They also have ecological functions as water system. They arevitally important for biological diversity. But because of a lack of successors to take over the work,
those fields are crumbling and in need of preservation. Suppose that only the terraced fields in acertain area survive. That would mean that the many creatures that lived in those rice paddies in thebroader area would have their habitats shut down. Those fragile terraced fields are the critical point ofthe satoyama. When I visited a satoyama, I could not overlook the fields but had to direct my lens atthem, deliberately and positively.”
Imamori Mitsuhiko, from the exhibition catalog

5
3

6

4
2

8

7
2: Gifu butterfly (Luehdorfia japonica) visiting dogtooth violet, Tsuruoka, Yamagata prefecture 2010 3: Field ofsaiko (Bupleurum falcatum linne) in summer, Ochi-cho, Kochi prefecture 2016 4: Praying for a good catch,
Kihoku-cho, Mie prefecture 2012 5: Colors of the autumn leaves, Hachimantai, Iwate prefecture 2012
6: Mountain stream in midwinter, Towada, Aomori prefecture 2013 7: Red Helen (Papilio helenus) visiting
red spider lilies, Akitakata, Hiroshima prefecture 2020 8: Imamori Mitsuhiko photo: Imamori Genki

Outline of exhibition｜
Dates: Thursday, June 20 to Sunday, September 29, 2024
Closed: Mondays (except when Monday falls on a holiday, in which case the museum is open and closed thefollowing day)
Venue: 2F Exhibition Gallery, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
Yebisu Garden Place, 1-13-3 Mita Meguro-ku Tokyo 153-0062
Open Hours: 10:00–18:00 (Thu. / Fri. 10:00–20:00) *Final admission 30 minutes before closing.
Admission: Adults￥700/ College Students￥560 / High School and Junior High School Students, Over 65￥350*Admission is free for children in elementary school or younger; junior high school students living or attending schools in theTokyo metropolitan area; holders of Japanese disability identification cards (shogaisha techo), along with up to two caregivers.

Organized by Tokyo Photographic Art Museum operated by Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and CultureSponsored by Nikon Corporation, Nikon Imaging Japan inc. and the Corporate Membership of Tokyo Photographic
Art MuseumFor Press｜If you have any press enquiries about this Exhibition, please contact our Department of Public Relations.
High-resolution images for publication are also available by e-mail.
press-info@topmuseum.jp
Tokyo Photographic Art Museum Yebisu Garden Place, 1-13-3 Mita Meguro-ku Tokyo 153-0062
TEL. 03-3280-0099 https://topmuseum.jp/e/contents/index.html